Bone Daddy's Children
by atheistbasementdragon
Summary: Beginning during 'The Lemurian Paradox' this story follows Nemu, Kuuderika, and a boy from 'Taming of the Beasts' growing up through the war and post war ages through God Rising's events, and beyond 'The Trial: Journey's End' as they shape their lives in a reshaped world, and make choices that will affect them forever. Slice of life/time skipping/coming of age story.
1. An Ordinary Day

**AN: This is a slice of life story dealing with the growing of of Nemu & Kuuderika, it begins after the Sorcerer King leaves Kuuderika in Enri's care in 'The Lemurian Paradox' from the chapter, 'Return to Carne'. This is a rather new type of story for me, so I'm hoping I do a proper job of it. If not...well shit, I tried. :) Reviews welcome of course.**

Nemu woke up, she felt wide awake. The Sun however, evidently didn't as it had yet to appear over the horizon. That made Nemu smile, after all, it wasn't every day somebody outraced the Sun. She enjoyed the darkness anyway, preferred it. Last night she'd had no nightmares, she'd slept peacefully and not awakened drenched in sweat.

She stretched out on her bed, it was a wonderful bed, it was wonderful even to have a bed. She looked at the shape next to her, Kuuderika was asleep still. They were sharing the bed for now while skeleton laborers built an addition onto their home. The skeletons stopped at sunset and simply stood around, thus allowing peace and quiet to reign supreme. Most people would have felt fear at having an undead skeleton standing outside looking mindlessly through their window. But Nemu Emmot was not one of those people.

She gently, slowly, exited the bed and stretched before she waved to the skeleton, it did not wave back, it never did. Nemu wasn't bothered by the skeleton because she knew the real danger was from the living. Living human knights killed her parents before her eyes, living human knights had chased her off into a forest of monsters and cut her precious Enri even while her desperate sister begged them not to hurt her and cried for Nemu to run, to leave her to die.

She thought about her savior, the undead King who killed the knights and healed her sister and saved her village. She snorted at the fear of monsters, demihumans, and undead, all the danger she'd ever known had come from human hands.

She went to the kitchen and quietly began to prepare the place to cook food, it was a very small thing to do, but it was one less thing for Enri to tend to when she got up, and Nemu never flinched at it. The memory of her sister holding her and bleeding was not far from her young mind.

She returned to her room and looked out the window into the darkness, and she heard a stirring not far away, Kuuderika was rubbing one eye as she sat up on the side of the bed. She stretched out herself, but rather than rise, shef lung herself out so that she now took up the entire thing.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?" Nemu asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Can't hear you, I'm asleep, can't be my fault if I'm not awake." Kuuderika's voice came out, muffled through the pillow.

Nemu frowned a little at this, but decided to play alone. "If you're asleep, how are you answering?" She asked the girl in the shadows.

"Ahhhh...ninth tier magic caster?" Kuuderika said tentatively.

"Ahhhh...nope." Nemu said and crossed her arms.

"Magic item from the Sorcerer King?" She tried again.

"No again." Nemu said and started tapping her foot.

"Talent?" She tried once more.

"For taking all of the bed up...yes...for holding conversations while you sleep, no." Nemu replied and chortled at her...(sort of adoptive sister?) and her attempt at excuses.

"OK fine you caught me, I was awake, you want the bed?" Kuuderika asked.

"Oh no, I'm awake for the day, I just wanted you to think you had to move." Nemu replied with a laugh.

Kuuderika laughed in return and slowly rolled herself off the bed. "Well I might as well be up too."

The two dressed quickly enough in the darkness and Nemu decided to walk outside, the moon was bright in the sky, in all its glorious fullness it was a sight to behold.

Kuuderika was beside her a moment later and two just stood out in the dark in front of the house.

"I like the darkness." Nemu said.

"Why?" Kuuderika asked.

"Everything bad that happened to me, happened in the light where anyone could have seen it, and it was because it was in the light of day that I couldn't escape it, I couldn't do anything to stop it. Here in the darkness, I can avoid most of the dangers that humans pose." She said softly.

"I get it." Kuuderika said, her small girl voice barely above a hushed whisper... "The bad things that happened to me...happened from other people too, worse, it was the people I loved. My sister was going to rescue me, but on what was going to be her last job she went and disappeared. She died and I never knew what happened to her, but then my parents spent themselves into a hole and tried to use my sister and I as stepping stones to climb out of it. She and I were sold off like meat and worked without rest and barely any food. The overseers hurt us when we slowed down, and then my twin sister and I simply collapsed, they threw us in a hole with other slave bodies and forgot about us, I lived and made my way out, she didn't. Humans did all of that, and they did it with the sun in the sky where everybody could see...and nobody cared."

Kuuderika bit her lip, "Meeting the Sorcerer King was the first good thing to happen in a long time, as terrifying as he was, I felt safer around him because he was not a human being. That is why I could even speak when called upon...now here I am." She said, her voice containing a hushed awe as the two girls looked at the place where the Sun would rise.

"Yup, here you are!" A cheerful voice announced and a soft feeling hand patted each of their heads. They jumped and turned around, and found themselves staring at the giant smile on the face of Lupusregina Beta who was crouching behind them.

Her long braided redhair and winning smile charmed Nemu from the moment they met, and now it charmed Kuuderika. "So pretty!"

Kuuderika said with excitement.

Lupusregina patted her head twice more and said, "So right!" and she stood up, "You two shouldn't be out this early without someone looking after you."

"We've got someone looking out for us." Nemu said politely.

Lupusregina looked around, she couldn't sense or see anyone else, for a moment she wondered if Lord Ainz had sent personal guards for the two and not mentioned it to her, that was his prerogative...but it was still unlike him.

"Ahhh...who?" She finally asked the girls.

"You." Nemu said and took her hand.

"Oh." Lupusregina Beta took her free hand and looked up at the sky and touched her cheek just below her lips as she thought that over. "Yes I suppose you do. Fair enough, but now that you're out here...what do you want to do? Just standing around is boring. Do you want me to teach you how to throw knives?"

"Well, we are supposed to have school." Nemu said doubtfully.

"Wait...this...village has a school?" Kuuderika asked in disbelief.

"Uh huh. The Sorcerer King had a building built just to see that we all learned how to read, write, and do other things." Nemu said and puffed out her chest proudly.

"I can read, I can write, and I can add and subtract numbers." Her face looked a little crestfallen for a moment and her hands came together and her fingers tapped at one another. "Not as good as my sister...but still!" She said and her enthusiastic and proud expression beamed out again.

"Wow." Kuuderika said, "Any magic education available?" She asked.

Lupusregina spoke up, "Actually...yes, the mages guild sends people around every year to do a talent inspection, and just your luck, they'll be arriving today. If you have any of those talent thingies at all, they'll find it, whether it be for magic or for knowing exactly how much alcohol it takes to get someone drunk...they will find it."

The girls looked at one another and rolled their eyes. Nemu had known Lupusregina for years, Kuuderika for no time at all, but it did not take long to realize she was utterly hopeless about staying serious for more than a minute or two at a time.

"So...first we throw knives, then I take you back here, you go to school, the magic guy shows up, he says whatcha can do, then I teach you more about throwing sharp stuff. Sound fun?" She said and tilted her head to the side and gave them her winning smile.

Knife throwing sounded...so deliciously badass that they could not resist, they nodded enthusiastically, and a few minutes later they found themselves looking at a large tree and Lupusregina marked off various intervals of distance.

Lupusregina reached into the pocket dimension she used for storage, and drew out a bundle of the expected sharp and pointies. They were solid black and obviously made of something similar to steel, but they did not recognize just what. They were wrapped in an apron like piece of cloth, each one sheathed inside its own small pocket, and the maid demon unrolled it on the grass where they stood, she crouched down and picked one out at random. She held it up to them by the handle.

"Touch the edge." She said, and the two girls reached out and found no sharpness. "Now look at the tip." She said, they reached out to touch, and she drew it back. "Do you have eyeballs on your fingers?" She asked them.

They looked at each other in confusion. "Ahhhh...no?" They said together.

"Then use the ones in your heads, look, don't touch." Lupusregina said, "I don't want to explain to Lord Ainz why I sent two of his special ones back home bleeding from my knives." She pulled a horrified face at the very prospect, and the two looked a little ashamed of themselves.

Lupusregina grinned again, "OK, so, notice the tip, the point is sharp, and just like the goal of stabbing someone is to put the pointy end into the other person, the goal of knife throwing here is to put the pointy end into the tree, got it?"

They grinned and nodded enthusiastically and with vigor.

"Now, take them by the handle, and feel the weight." The red haired maid demon said, and handed one to each of them. They hefted the knives, both had held knives before...but for common and ordinary reasons...this felt different...darker, they imagined themselves as mighty warriors, adventurers out to save the world, hunting some twisted nightmare in the forgotten regions of the world.

"Ahhh you two have spirit, dontya?" Lupus said when she saw their faces take on a slightly predatory look, her eyes went narrow, and the playful Lupusregina had all but vanished for a moment. "I like those eyes, you keep those, you'll go far. Now, you have to get used to that weight, its about two hundred grams, you can throw heavier things, but this is ideal, heavier things require more strength to keep the same accuracy, you have to be able to control your weapon, or your weapon will control you." She said as the two girls raised and lowered their hands, getting a feel for the simply deadly looking little things.

The blades were simple, rounded handles at the pommel, no holes or perforations, simply smooth black metal that curved like a grown woman's waist in the center. Nemu looked down at the blade in fascination. "She's beautiful."

"She?" Kuuderika asked.

"The curves." Nemu said with a giggle, prompting Lupusregina to laugh so hard she grabbed her belly and bent over, and Kuuderika to blush a cherry red shade all over her face.

"Now, safety, don't want to explain any other injuries..." Lupus said, and looked around, then she looked down at the shoes the girls were wearing. She frowned, "Your shoes won't do." She said.

"Huh?" Nemu asked.

Lupus reached back into her pocket dimension and pulled out two pairs of enchanted boots. "Put these on unless you want a hole in your feet when you drop those knives." She said bluntly.

"Oh...ahhh...yes." Nemu said, and both she and Kuuderika handed their knives back and put on the clothing, which quickly adjusted to fit them.

"Now, take a relaxed stance, if you're tense, you'll overthrow, and you won't reliably hit the target." Lupusregina said, and the two girls rotated their arms, stretched out, and shook any stiffness from their bodies.

"Now stand up straight and align yourself to the target, right foot forward if throwing with your right hand, left food forward if throwing with your left, and keep your other foot just a little behind it." The two girls tried to follow her directions, but Lupusregina had to help them out periodically along the way poking a foot in or up or back.

When she looked over both their stances and gave a nod of approval, she took out the first blade and handed it to Nemu. "M'kay...now you've held hammers right Nemu?" Lupusregina asked.

"Yes..." She said curiously.

"Hold it like that, thumb over top of your other fingers, make sure your other fingers won't change the direction of your throw, now these are just your practice blades, if you've got something like a hunting knife, make sure you leave room between the edge of the blade and your hand when you hold the knife." She said as the girls as Nemu adjusted her hold on the blade.

"Lets start with a half rotation throw." Lupus said, and then she took up one of the blades, quickly assumed a stance, and threw it into the target, punching her blade through to the other side, she executed all the things she'd been teaching for minutes, in a matter of moments with one fluid expert motion.

"Like that." She said, and began to instruct them in the fine points, Nemu proved to be adept at it, within a short span of time she was getting her blade to hit the tree, and she was able to do so with her right or left hand stances.

Kuuderika...not so much, though she could hit the target occasionally, it was not a consistent success as quickly as it was for Nemu, and it wasn't long before Lupus was demonstrating more complex throws to the very proud Nemu...which was unfortunately only for a brief time before Nemu announced their need to depart for school.

The handed their knives back...somewhat reluctantly, and Lupusregina put them away back in her pocket dimension and waved goodbye.

They returned to their home and found the skeletons had resumed their reconstruction work and Enri was outside calling for them.

"Breakfast is ready, you two hurry up and eat and then head off to school!" She said sweetly, a brief but filling meal of eggs, bacon, and porridge was wolfed down by the two hungry preteen girls, who rushed right back out the door waving goodbye to Enri who stood at the doorway.

Lupusregina approached Enri as the girls were leaving, and had her customary sweet grin on her face. "Those two're kinda fun." she said happily.

"Oh were you with the girls this morning Lupusregina?" Enri asked with a sigh of relief.

"Yes, and that Nemu has a talent for knives, I'll have to teach her more advanced things soon." Lupusregina said, rotating her throwing arm as if she were throwing a blade.

"Is that...safe?" Enri asked with some concern.

"Not to worry, I gave both her and Kuuderika enchanted boots to protect their feet, they used practice knives, but also..." Her eyes went narrow and predatory, "Wouldn't you have liked to have been able to throw a knife into the face of the knights who killed your parents?" She asked.

There was a time when Enri would have perhaps fainted, or at least wilted, but the years had made her stronger than her youth, and so she mustered up an iron, "Yes."

She thought about it after her answer and said, "I suppose it is less dangerous to know something than it is to be helpless by knowing nothing. Go ahead and keep at it...just don't take away from their school time." She said, reminding herself very much of her own mother at that moment.

She put the thought out of her head and went out to check on the goblin army and the human volunteers, a war's end might be decided in a day, but its beginnings required many more of them, at least it was going to be a nice day out.

_...Village school, recess hour..._

Kuuderika and Nemu found a nearby tree and began throwing rocks at it, aiming for a single notch that stuck out from the center. Nemu was doing quite well and Kuuderika...acceptably, and it began to draw the attention of some of the other children, soon they were taking turns and an impromptu game of 'king of the hill' emerged, in which two would compete to strike the center notch three times, with the first one to do so staying up, while the other person got out of line and was replaced by the next person up, and the competition resumed.

Nemu as it turned out, had taken well to her lessons and was quickly undefeated, Kuuderika did not seem to mind the loss, and she cheered her on from the sidelines until Nemu routed an older boy who blushed with shame at his loss. "You cheated!" He snapped.

"How, by being just better than you?" Nemu snapped out, "How is it cheating to be better than you at it?" She asked.

His face turned red, "She was distracting me!" He yelled and pointed at Kuuderika, who quickly went quiet.

He whirled on Kuuderika and snapped, "Why don't you shut up and stop trying to help your friend win, you think just cause you're new here you can do whatever you want! Well you can't!" The boy was getting more agitated by his loss of both the game and then the loss of face, and he had apparently decided that since Kuuderika was the one he'd blamed...and she had no parents to run to, she was the one he could target.

"I ah...wasn't trying, I was just cheering..." She said a little bit nervously.

"You mean cheating! No wonder you got no parents! I'll bet your they left you just because they hated their cheater daughter!" He shouted angrily as he stood only inches away.

There was a collective gasp from the other children, Kuuderika's eyes went wet with hurt as her parent's sale of her body to support themselves became sharper than the knives she'd practiced with. While there was no way he could have known what happened exactly, the way he said it was close enough to her memory that it was everything she could do not to cry right then and there.

Which is why it was somewhat blurry when he was knocked to the ground. Her face expressed utter disbelief, but there was Nemu on top of him, pounding away at his face, scratching at his eyes and neck, he tried to struggle and get a hold of her, but she was quick and she was relentless, screaming at him like a thousand whistling arrows in flight as she left her mark on him, it was a savage two minutes before the instructor arrived to pull her apart from her victim, and there was only one person left crying over that game.

Kuuderika couldn't speak, but what she could do, and did do while the adults were helping the would be bully to his feet, she approached Nemu, gave her a hug, and mouthed the words, "Thank you."

**AN: Well this is the first chapter of 'Bone Daddy's Daughters' going to be a relatively short slice of life type story detailing with how these two come to deal with the complexities of the times in which they live, and the course that life takes them down as they come into adulthood. This is another kind of story that is something of an experiment for me, so please, if you have criticisms and suggestions, let me know. **

**Also... there is an author/reader discord: /hJrfday**

**I do chapter readings there, apparently I do a pretty decent job of that, assuming my audience is not full of flatterers. :) **

**And by the way...if you ever do any fan art of any of the characters...either in the canonical series, or in terms of the characters I've created to expand this Universe, please feel free to share it there. Got to admit I really want to see some scenes drawn out in particular.**


	2. Anything but Ordinary

**AN: Well this one has been pending for awhile, got to be honest with you, something about this chapter feels 'off' to me, maybe it is because it involves so much time skipping to do the slice of life moments properly, but if you don't think of this as my best work, well I won't blame you. But after the HEAVY Synod subject matter, honestly I needed a break. I'll probably take the rest of the week off from writing just to recharge. Incidentally, if the name 'Goan' sounds familiar, well it should...if you read 'Taming of the Beasts' at least, I've wanted to write this character for a bit, but the other stories were just to engaging. Alright, that out of the way, the Discord server for Overlord Fanfiction has exclusive, unreleased story content, material not found elsewhere and features a great chance to interact with fellow readers and writers. The invite code is on the author page if you want to join us. Alright, on with the show:**

The next week passed as happy ones for Nemu and Kuuderika as they became fast friends. Nfirea had already been warm to Nemu, but as he took to Kuuderika as well she blossomed from a girl who was hesitant, fearful, and more than a little damaged, to one who was comfortable speaking for herself, especially when Nemu was around to back her up. The magic tester who arrived from the guild to check the talents of the children of Carne found that Kuuderika had the same gift as her elder sister, and a slot was reserved for her at the magic academy of E-Rantel. Nemu in turn, was found to have Eyes of Pain, in short she would know instinctively where to strike an enemy to hurt them most, and a training slot was reserved for her at the arena training grounds if she chose to take it up when she came of age.

Lupusregina of course, was more than pleased. She had a wide grin on her face when Nemu and Kuuderika informed them of their gifts. "I see, I see. -su" She said with a big grin on her face. "Well, I'll have to inform Lord Ainz, I'll bet he'll be glad to know such talented individuals are growing up here." She turned and tilted her head slightly as Enri and Nfirea approached.

"I suppose it isn't surprising." Nfirea said with a shrug, "Talents seem to appear persistently in some bloodlines, it makes me wonder about heritability…" Just as he was about to go spouting off one of his long winded magical treatises that he liked, Enri swatted him on the ass, causing him to blush and jump a little at the same moment. She gave him a mischievous grin as she came closer.

"Nfirea dear, their eyes will go all glassy again." She said with a chuckle of laughter.

"Ahhh, yes…" He looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his head self consciously. "Anyway, since they have talents, we should do what we can to give them a head start." He said and crouched down at eye level to the two girls. His boyish face had grown more mature in the few years since he'd married his wife, but around children he retained some of the boyish qualities that Enri had fallen in love with. He moved his customarily long hair out of the way of his face so they could clearly see his expression.

"Nemu, I understand Lupusregina has been teaching you all about knife throwing and such." He said gently, she nodded gently and he looked upwards towards Lupusregina.

"Lupusregina, what would you say to training her on more than that, can you do things like archery?" He asked. Nemu started to beam with excitement.

Lupusregina however, paused thoughtfully with her head tilted in thought, "No, I don't really know how to use a bow, I suppose the goblins could do it, but I know someone who would be an excellent teacher, at least to get her started, and she could almost certainly provide another in her place after determining a regimen for her."

"Oh? Who?" Nfirea said curiously.

"Well, I would suggest Neia Baraja, but she's got a fight on her hands sooo… why not put her with one of the instructors she had sent here -su?" Lupusregina asked, shrugging with her hands up around shoulder height and shaking her head with a grin.

Nfirea thought that over while Nemu stared up at him, clasping her hands together and bouncing on her toes.

"Military grade archery training?" He said thoughtfully. "Isn't she a little young for that?" He asked, looking over at Enri.

Enri looked no less thoughtful and they traded a long look at one another.

"Pleeeeease!" Nemu said, practically bouncing on her heels.

"Well, if Lupu recommends it…" Enri said somewhat reluctantly.

"Yay!" Nemu said and leaped over and hugged Enri, Nfirea, and Lupusregina one after another.

"But!" Enri interrupted her happiness with the dread word and crouched down in front of her. "You must not let your studies suffer. You can practice in the morning before school, you can practice after your work here is done in the afternoons, but if the teacher says your work is suffering, it stops."

Nemu grinned, "It won't!"

Kuuderika grinned, "If she's doing that, I want to practice too what can I do?"

"I suppose you can work with me, I'm best with potions, but I can get you started with magic at least." Nfirea said thoughtfully. "Same deal though, no failing in your regular studies."

That was how their new routine began. In the morning they were up early, Nemu was brought to a Black Justice instructor, she would help him set up targets and then she would build up the strength of her arms, holding a suitable bow at a draw for longer and longer periods. Kuuderika by contrast, would open up the shop with Nfirea and began to learn about potion mixing, alchemical ingredients, and the various properties of plants. With the forest much safer, she would often be tasked with finding the plants he wanted, and she developed an affinity for the woods that surpassed most other children in the growing community.

Until one day they met someone new. They were on their way to school when they saw the boy standing with his mother outside the building speaking with a teacher and handing a piece of paper over to her. His mother was a relatively young woman, of gentle air and common clothes, with equally common hair hanging down freely behind her back about midway, a style common for young unmarried women. The boy however, he was anything but common even at a glance, he was younger than they were by several years, roughly seven at a guess. However his build, even beneath clothes of solid black, distinct from the colorful garb of his mother, was obviously powerful, and his hair was the color of white gold. The teacher reached down to take his hand, but even from where they stood, they could see her hesitate for a moment before extending it down for him to take it and lead him inside.

It was not a mystery for long, when they went to class, the new student was introduced, and now they got a look at the front of him. He didn't seem to have the soft features of a child, he looked like he'd been carved out of stone, his skin was the color of pale sand, and his eyes were black as the night the girls loved so well. "Class," their teacher began, "This is Goan, a new student. Say hello." She said patiently.

"Hi, Goan." They said together.

"Why don't you tell them about yourself, Goan?" She said, turning to the boy and leaning over slightly as she spoke.

"Well, like she said, I'm new. I've moved here from the Draconic Kingdom with my mother. My father, he disappeared a long time ago during the invasion, left me before I was born…" There was a snicker from someone, and Goan's voice, which had been firm and confident, stopped. He did not shrink, rather his eyes locked on the snicker, and he stared at the source of the laughter, the laughter stopped under the withering stare and the silence stretched out uncomfortably until a student interjected.

"Why'd you move here?" One of the girls asked.

"My mother said it was to see the one I was named after, our rescuer and savior, apparently he comes here often, so she saved for years to pay for the trip, and now she bought a small shop that she'll make and mend clothes out of." He said casually.

"How come you're dressed like that?" A boy asked curiously.

He touched his shirt and pulled a bit of cloth away from where it fell against his arm. He gave it a thoughtful look and said, "Well, this is how Black Justice fighters dress, so I asked my mom to make it for me." There was another snicker, his head snapped over to the source of the laughter again, it was the same boy. From where they were sitting, Nemu and Kuuderika gave one another a glance, it was the same boy that had tried picking on Kuuderika before. Being a few years older, he lorded it over most other children in the mixed age class, but after his incident with Nemu and Kuuderika, he'd limited it to smaller kids. Kids of Goan's age.

"Go ahead, take your seat, Goan." The teacher said and gently touched his back, propelling him lightly forward.

"Anywhere?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Anywhere." She said with a gentle smile.

He grinned broadly at her, and then and went to sit down next to the boy who laughed at him, he gave the ill-mannered boy a smile, and the ill-mannered one smiled right back.

Things were quiet as class went on, but eventually it came time for some outdoor play. Nemu and Kuuderika were inseparable and went out together. Most of the other students had similarly long friendships and went out in their customary cliques. Goan for his part, went outside by himself, he didn't have friends yet, but if he minded that, he gave no sign.

He did, however, have a target on his back, and that he minded quite a bit. He hadn't been outside long when the one he'd privately dubbed 'bully boy' pushed him from behind. Goan didn't fall, he simply stumbled forward by a step or two and turned around. The shove had been accompanied by an audible 'oof' noise, clearly the boy wanted attention. He didn't see how Goan smiled when he went forward.

Goan straightened up and turned around. "Oops." The boy said. Goan looked at him from his night black eyes and said softly, "You should apologize when you bump into someone.

"You're right." The boy said, "So apologize."

"You 'bumped' into me." Goan said, "You apologize."

"You." He replied.

"No." Goan answered.

"I'll make you." He said.

"You won't." Goan's voice was indifferent.

"I'll make a fool out of you." 'Bullyboy' warned him.

"Maybe, but at least unlike you, I wasn't born one." Goan answered, and the one he called 'Bullyboy' went beet red with embarrassment as some of the other children who had begun to gather laughed at him.

"Beg for forgiveness!" The older boy said as he took a step closer.

"Okay." Goan said quietly. This caught the large boy by surprise.

"I'm sorry you're as stupid as you are ugly, and I'm sorry you're as ugly as you are rude." Goan replied sharply, turning him beet red again.

"I'll pound you into the ground short stuff!" He said, stepping forward again, looming over Goan.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I'll get bigger as I get older, but you'll stay stupid and ugly for life." He said sharply, Kuuderika and Nemu glanced at each other and started to laugh, that laughter spread. Calls for a fight started to come up.

That was too much for his ears to take, he swung at Goan, only for him to strike the air, as Goan simply ducked and stepped aside. "I really wouldn't advise this." He said, "My mother said I was blessed by the dark before I was born, someone like you is not a threat."

'Bullyboy' looked at his fist and at Goan in confusion, as if he couldn't understand how he missed, he paid no mind to the advice the white haired boy offered, and chose to try to bum rush him, only to find that Goan again stepped out of the way, and simply stuck his foot out and tripped him into the dirt.

"Please, stop, don't." Goan said in a bored and indifferent voice, his hands were folded back behind him, in the very opposite of a defensive posture, his 'pleading' was clearly a mockery, and it incensed the would be bully.

He punched the ground in frustration and stood up. He wiped the dirt off his face and came in punching, only for Goan to kick him square in the balls, dropping him to his knees. "There, now we're the same height, you got shorter, but at least you didn't get dumber… this might however, make you a little uglier, at least for a while." Goan said with a shrug, and he slammed his fist into the bug eyed bullyboy until he toppled backwards, still clutching his wounded balls.

It was clear he wasn't going to get up for some time, as he couldn't see through his tears of pain. He simply lay on the ground, while some of the children who had been cheering for a fight, turned to laughing at the defeated aggressor.

Goan however, lost interest and walked away with his hands behind his back again, only to find Nemu and Kuuderika blocking his path. "Good job." Nemu said and stuck out her hand. "He deserved it." He looked at it for a moment as if unsure if she were mocking him, then as he looked at her face, he found something favorable. He took her hand and shook it confidently.

"Thank you." He replied.

"I'm Nemu, this is Kuuderika. Want to be friends?" She asked.

"Okay." He replied politely. Nemu smiled confidently.

"I think we're going to get along very, very well." She said.

The statement turned out to be prophetic, Goan proved that his sharp wit and heavy fists were not a one-off display, and the three were frequently found together over the next few months. His seemingly serious look concealed a sly, understated kind of humor that caught both Nemu and Kuuderika off guard more than once.

There was, however, no laughter the day that Enri sat Nemu, Kuuderika, Lupusregina, and Nfirea down over dinner and announced the callup.

She'd prepared the best meal she could for them all, and then said softly. "I… have some news." She began.

"Yes, dear?" Nfirea asked, already a sense of dread was coming up in his voice. Nemu and Kuuderika were looking at her in innocent concern.

"I… The Sorcerer King is calling me to service. I'm to be put in command of the army of Carne and sent south over the border with the Slane Theocracy, along with Lupusregina."

There was silence around the table, and then Nemu and Kuuderika began to softly, gently wail. "I don't want you to goooo…" Nemu said in a choked voice.

Kuuderika echoed the sentiment, "My big sis left, then I never saw her again… I don't wanna lose you too…"

Nfirea reached out and took their hands in his. "I know, I'm upset too, but she's a toughie, and the Slane Theocracy doesn't have a chance, that is why the Sorcerer King trusts her, plus, she'll be fine, she'll have Lupu with her. Right, Lupu?" Nfirea said with a barely hidden catch in his voice.

Lupusregina smiled. "That's right, see I'm going to be her bodyguard, it will be my job to keep her alive and safe the whole time, and I'm very good at my job." The battle maid said with a fearsome smile. "Anyone comes near your sister or your mommy or your wife, I'll tear em apart. -su"

"You'd better, or I'll never forgive you!" Nemu said with the seriousness that only a preteen girl could muster up.

"When do you leave?" Nfirea asked softly.

"I have some time to get things in order, the delegates from the other side are allotted time to return home, but after that, we move. Plus most of the assembly will take place around here, so I'll be home until it is time to advance. After that, I'll be away till the war is over." She said reluctantly.

"I… I see. By god, I hope it is brief." Nfirea said softly.

"It's the Sorcerer King." Lupusregina said, "What force in the world do you think can stand against him?"

It was a sobering and hopeful point, one that was not lost on the rest of them.

"I suppose I should go ahead and say this now as well." Nfirea said, and drew a letter from his pocket. "This came for me today." He put it down on the table in front of him.

"What is it?" Nemu asked fearfully.

"The Sorcerer King has offered me the position of production head for magical research and logistics." Nfirea said.

Lupusregina was the first to respond, "What the hell is that?" She asked in confusion.

"To put it in the simplest terms, it means I'll be in charge of the entire potion production supply for the Sorcerous Kingdom's military, that means all the potions sent to my wonderful wife's army, will reach her because I do a good job. It also means I'll be overseeing all the experiments in potion making, trying to find better and better potions to further help the war effort." He grinned and Enri jumped at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"With your magic behind me, I can't possibly fail, my love!" She said with a breathless gasp. The look in her eyes told him he should break out a few stamina potions for the evening ahead of him, she was going to tire him out… more than she usually did, not that he minded. And if it was going to be awhile, they would need to make the most of it!

And what man would ever complain about that?


	3. Rumors of War, Rumors of Children

It was for that reason that Lupusregina proposed that the girls stay at a friend's home overnight. She wasn't really tactful about it, "If you're going to be noisy enough to wake the dead again, they should probably give you some space. -su"

Nemu and Kuuderika blushed beet red. Neither one of them were clueless about the facts of life, but picturing Enri doing that was just a bit much. Lupusregina of course, had a big smile on her face, having enjoyed the awkward moment and the blushing red faces that began with the young pair and ended with Enri and Nfirea. Enri covered her face with both hands in embarrassment while her husband's jaw dropped.

"-su." And a winsome smile were all that came from Lupusregina Beta.

"Ah, yeah, good idea." He said hurriedly, trying to move things past that moment that the red headed maid was basking in.

"Lupusregina, would you be kind enough to ask…hell…uh…" He paused and turned to the two girls.

"Where would you two like to stay tonight?" He asked uncomfortably.

The pair looked at one another as if reading each other's minds, then looked back up at Nfiria. "Goan's house."

"Goan, that new boy… isn't he fairly young? Do you really have that much in common with him?" Nfirea asked.

Kuuderika thought that through for a moment. "Actually, now that you mention it, you're right. He can't be as old as we thought, can he?" She said to Nemu.

That brought Nemu to think about it. "Good point. I thought he was about seven when I first saw him… but if he's from the Draconic Kingdom and he wasn't born before his majesty went there, he's got to be even younger than that… and now that I think about it, he doesn't act his age either."

"But still, Goan's house." Kuuderika said, and Nemu nodded in agreement.

Enri let her arms fall with a sigh, "Fine, Goan's house. Nemu, pack two bags. Lupusregina, could I ask you to give us some privacy tonight? And Kuuderika, could you run to Goan's house and ask to stay the night?"

That prompted three salutes that Enri was sure were absolutely mocking her, but behind her Nfiria had a gleam in his eye and gave a thumbs up to the departing girls.

An hour later permission had been acquired, the girls were packed and standing by the door with Lupusregina. "Alright, I'll be taking them over, and staying the night there…" the girls waved and walked out, but just before Lupusregina crossed the threshold she added, "Unless you'd like me to stay and apply all that practical knowledge I gave you before your wedding night. -su" She grinned wickedly and winked at Enri, whose blush was made worse by Nfiria's gawking look at his wife.

"Lupu!" She said and rushed at the maid and shoved her out the door. She went out laughing and the door slammed behind them.

"Uh… Enri… What was she talking about… what did she teach you and… uh… how?" He asked.

The next few minutes had lots of noisy shouting carrying beyond the walls, but only Lupusregina was still in hearing range when those became cries of ecstasy. She grinned with mischief and giggled to herself.

Goan's house wasn't a big one, but his mother was doing fairly well for herself, a lot of clothes got torn up and damaged after all, and she was a hard, industrious worker. As a result, the house was large enough that Goan and his mother each had their own rooms in addition to a common space.

It was a comfortable place to be, very homey. The furniture was plain, rough cut wooden chairs and tables, a simple pot hanging over a fire to make stew, a floor of wood, making it a slight upgrade considering most houses only had dirt floors. It was, in all ways, a very simple, comfortable place. Goan's mother looked her part. She had a warm smile that reminded Nemu of her big sister and she doted on Goan quite a bit.

"So, I understand you and my son have become very good friends." She said as she sat down. Behind her, Lupusregina stirred the stew pot, she had chosen to remain functioning as a maid, despite the insistence of Goan's mother that she was a guest.

"Yes, ma'am." Nemu and Kuuderika said together.

Goan sat quietly at the table, his relative silence not at all unusual to their ears.

"He's an… unusual boy, so I have to admit I was worried about life here." She said gently with a look in his direction.

Goan rolled his eyes. "Mother," he said with some exasperation.

"Oh come now, you know I'm proud of you, but you can't really expect them to not notice that you're a little different." She said bluntly.

"I s'pose not," he said as Lupusregina approached and ladled stew into his bowl.

"Yeah, he's kinda different." The maid said, "How come? He not all human? You frolic with a demigod or something?" She teased the woman, who laughed with a mix of discomfort and genuine appreciation for the joke.

"Oh goodness no, he was blessed by a supreme one." She said as she poured tea into the cups Lupusregina had placed on the table.

"A supreme one?" She asked curiously. "Like some great human mage?"

"Oh goodness no, before he was born, while he was still inside me, the Sorcerer King blessed him. After his majesty rescued us, he placed his palm where my little Goan rested within, said something like 'Blessing of the Dark' and had me swear not to tell the people I was with. I suppose a few saw, and the rumor started, but I never owned up to it being me, or he." Goan's mother smiled in a motherly way and her eyes welled up, her voice cracked softly as Lupusregina's face took on a look that Nemu had never seen before.

"Because of his highness, my child lives. I can never thank him enough for that, I will worship him until the end of my life, follow him into fire or flood without a flinch or falter. Then, a king, a living god who had already saved us... chose to bless my child… born to a penniless peasant. I am lower than the dust compared to a royal of any standing. How much more so is that to a god?" Her eyes snapped up to meet Lupusregina's silent, dumbfounded look.

"He's grown faster, stronger, wiser than any child of his age ever should, and a god acted more like a father to a strange peasant's unborn child than his natural father, who left us to be eaten alive, ever did! That blessing of my divine god, is why he is what he is, it is what has made him unique, standing head and shoulders above so many who are far older than he. That is why I've brought him here…" She said with a joyful weeping tone to her voice.

Goan was finding his bowl of stew to be very interesting, he was clearly uncomfortable with what his mother was saying, but Nemu and Kuuderika were staring at him in shock.

"What do you mean?" Lupusregina asked hesitantly.

"Why, I've brought him here, because his majesty comes here, I want to show him, even if only for a moment, what his blessing has wrought in the form of my son. I won't ask anything of your master, I swear it, I just want him to see that he did not bless my child for nothing."

Nemu had now known Lupusregina for much of her life, and in all that time she had never seen the maid look shocked, shaken, awed, or otherwise impressed in any meaningful fashion. Yet now she was silent, and her expression was one of unutterable awe.

"Excuse me, I… have to talk to some people. -su" Lupusregina said, and after messaging back and forth in silence, a gate opened and she rushed through.

Goan's mother blinked, she'd never seen something like that, but before she could say anything, Nemu spoke up. "Don't think anything of it, it is how his majesty's servants move around so fast, that'll take her anywhere." She said with a wave of her hand.

"Mom, I really wish you wouldn't tell that story." Goan said with a sigh, "Just because we're out of the Draconic Kingdom and whatnot, and I'm, well here and all now, that doesn't mean people want to hear about this kind of thing." He rolled his eyes and looked over at Nemu and Kuuderika. "Right?" Their expressions said he was profoundly wrong.

_…Nazarick…_

The first thing Lupusregina did was call for Demiurge to meet her in his private quarters on an urgent matter. When she made it there, having rushed past several of her colleagues, she immediately opened, entered, and slammed the door behind her.

Demiurge was sitting at his desk going through some paperwork when he got the message, and he informed her he'd remain there waiting for her.

When the door slammed, Demiurge looked up at Lupusregina and said, "You've got excellent timing, I was just…" His words slowed as he saw how hard the combat maid was breathing and the expression on her face.

"Demiurge, did you know about Lord Ainz's kid?"

Demiurge was quick witted by nature, but the words she said were so off the wall, so unexpected, so boundlessly odd that he wasn't sure he understood her.

"Repeat that," he said.

She did. He had her say it two more times as he stood up and leaned over his desk, his fists on the surface, he looked her dead in the eyes.

"You need to explain this, and you need to be abundantly clear and leave me no room for doubt about what you mean." He said as emotions of joy, suspicion and doubt warred within him.

Lupusregina relayed the story as she'd heard it. And Demiurge sighed and sat back down, he rubbed his forehead with two fingers and shook his head. "Every time I think I have caught up with him, he raises his game again. Such a masterful plan, and he did this years ago you say?"

She nodded in confusion and uncertainty.

"Years ago… now here on the cusp of war, and I see another fragment of his masterful plan… will I ever catch up to him?" He asked himself with some frustration.

Lupusregina waited quietly, everybody knew that when Demiurge began a reverie, it was best to just let it pass quickly.

"First," he said as he came out of his momentary daze, "I wouldn't refer to him as Lord Ainz's son, that isn't exactly accurate, and it might upset a pair of guardians we know quite well."

The maid nodded in understanding.

"Second, while I may not understand but a tiny fragment of his plans, I do know that we must ensure every opportunity is afforded to this boy to grow strong and skillful, in order that he may fulfill our lords will. He must be protected from harm, but challenged so that he grows. Teach him everything, and tell me whenever there is something he requires." Demiurge said firmly.

"Ah, sure, but what about the rest of Nazarick, have I stumbled upon some secret plan of our lord?" Lupusregina asked cautiously.

Demiurge shook his head, "Nazarick can know, but… inform them in a lowkey way, and do not refer to him so outlandishly. Lady Albedo and Lady Shalltear might…" He tried to imagine their reaction, and even imagining their howls hurt his ears.

"Yes, of course. But Demiurge, what exactly is 'Blessing of the Dark'?" She asked curiously. "What will happen to the boy?"

Demiurge grinned, "Well you're already seeing that he's received a number of buffs across the board, but he is still young. When he becomes a man, well, it may manifest in any number of ways. He may become a creature of the night, he may gain some talent of the one who blessed him, he may have increased stats in the darkness, exactly what will happen is unpredictable." Demiurge said thoughtfully but stroked his chin as he ran through the possibilities. "We'll know more when he grows older, just… keep an eye on his development."

"I will. -su" She said with her grin restored. "Lord Ainz is so amazing!" She exclaimed and jumped for joy.

When word spread around Nazarick that the Sorcerer King had chosen to use his power to bless a human child with his dark gifts, rumors were running rampant and the already favorite topic among the tomb's inhabitants, the lord himself, gained renewed energy.

Such was the furor of gossip over Lupusregina's revelation that the better part of Nazarick had meandered into the bar to theorize over his plans for the blessed boy.

Cocytus proposed the boy was going to be prepared to rule over humans as a kind of human martial lord. Albedo proposed that he would be a pawn to manipulate the hearts of humans, a kind of Momon to another nation, to prepare for the coming of the Sorcerer King.

Shalltear proposed that he would be prepared as a predator from which the people would need to be saved.

The Pleiades each had their own theories, from Lupusregina's proposal that he was a kind of experiment, to Yuri Alpha's proposal that he was to serve as a model for human emulation of the divine.

CZ, when she learned of it, proposed he was being earmarked as a leader of the growing religious organization of Neia Baraja.

Aura and Mare agreed that it didn't really matter what the point was, and didn't bother to speculate because they would never guess his plans in full anyway.

Pandora's Actor proposed that there were multiple possible uses for the boy, and narrowing it down at this early stage was impossible.

With that sentiment, Demiurge agreed. "I am sure our lord has a dozen or even two dozen plans for the boy, depending upon which way his talents go, I myself can see six possible uses for him, but sadly I can never see the fullness of the supreme one's plans." He shrugged casually, "All we can do then is to ensure that the boy has a multitude of possible uses by making everything available to him as he grows, though preferably without his conscious awareness of our… favor. The less he knows, the more easily he can be used, and the more naturally his talent develops, the more easily we can divine the intended path of our lord. Now Lupusregina, why don't you head back and… keep an eye on things."

She grinned her most sweetly, and Shalltear opened a gate for her. "Of course. -su" She waved farewell, "Everything will dance in the palm of the supreme one, now and forever more. -su" she said, and stepped back through the gate.

The next few weeks were busy ones, the village that had become a city was bustling like mad, and Enri, despite her wish to be with her family, was drawn in to those events in her role as commander of the Army of Carne. Her time in the Library of Ashurbanipal was extensive, with the goblin strategist as her constant companion, and 'Sun', as he termed himself still, frequently questioned her about the day. She grew skilled at mathematical computations as they were pounded into her aching brain by relentless repetition, and her constant labor inspired the same in those who saw her.

"If she works that hard, how can I do less?" Was a constant refrain among those who lived around her. Humans found it easy to admire her, but demihumans and beastmen who had settled the area found it a struggle to reconcile their heavily imparted lifelong belief in human inferiority, with the whirlwind that was her relentless work ethic along with her flexible thinking.

She became a regular visitor among the training grounds, and frequently had Nemu and Kuuderika in tow at first, but to that number a third was soon added. Goan was regularly brought by Lupusregina and exposed to much of the same training, much to the delight of the pair of girls. His stern, serious expression, so out of place on a boy his age, quickly caught the attention of a Black Justice instructor, and after a few words whispered to him covertly by Lupusregina, the instructor began to give him lessons as well. He proved a natural grappler and quickly became almost like a mascot to the training unit due to his relentless nature. Rare was the day when two of the trio were not at the training grounds and the same could be said of their third partner's obsession with learning magic. In each of these, Lupusregina found ways to contribute that were wholly new compared to her formerly 'hands off' approach. To Nfirea she brought books from Nazarick to help him teach Kuuderika, while to Nemu and Goan she brought gifts of gear suitable for trainees, such as a quiver that fired illusory arrows, so it would never run out, and a belt of knives with the same purpose, and grappling gear such as gloves and pads that would increase in weight over time so that Goan's body would grow stronger.

The trio excelled in their studies, Goan appeared to have a prodigious memory and it served him well in the span of time leading up to the final deployment.

Enri and Nfirea spent as much time with Nemu and Kuuderika during the day as they could, but in the twilight hours, their only thoughts were for one another.

Nfirea rolled over and reached for the drawer of the bedside chest. "Just a moment love, I'll need another stamina potion."

Enri sat up in bed, the covers falling down and baring her beautiful, hardy, youthful frame. She grinned salaciously at her husband, "What, my body does not inspire you as it used to? How mean." She said and closed her eyes as she gave a very obviously phony pout.

"Like no one else ever has or ever will…" he said and wiped the sweat from his brow, "But it's been four times already and even the strongest of men can only do so much."

She giggled a little at that as he riffled through the desk and moved the empty bottles of used stamina potions out of the way to look for another.

"Enri, not to spoil the mood or anything but…" He began, her face took on a sour expression.

"Really? Tell me, not this again." She said.

"Well, it's just I'd really like…" He started to say and she sighed.

"I'm going off to war you know." She said as she drew her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I don't know how long I'll be gone for, maybe a few months, maybe a year, maybe longer."

"Yeah, uh, that is why…" He began, only for her to cut him off again.

"All the more reason we have to be careful. As much fun as this is, how well do you think I'll swing a sword with a bun in the oven?" She asked unhappily.

"That is why I made this." He said as he found what he was looking for and held up his hand, there was a green potion in a vial between two of his fingers, and a white one between the two fingers next to it.

"What's that?" She asked. From his expression, he was about to go into one of his long and passionate explanations of alchemical theory and she raised a hand to stop him. "Just the basics, please."

"It means we can do absolutely everything… and you don't have to worry about going to war while you're pregnant." He grinned in a salacious way that, years ago, she hadn't known he could.

"Well, give it here! You should have given it to me as soon as it was made!" She said and reached out for it.

"I only just perfected it today!" He exclaimed as she took it from his hand, popped the cork, and began to drink.

"Well, you'd better have extra stamina potions in that drawer to make up for not telling me about it as soon as you got home!" She playfully snapped at him as she handed the vial back.

"You jumped me when I got home." He reminded her as he drank the stamina potion he still had in hand.

As he put them back in the drawer, she muttered, "You know a good husband would just let his wife have that one."

"Sorry, I'll make it up to you." He said as he rolled back over to her, "And yes, I have plenty."

As her legs wrapped around him and her fingernails dug sharply into his back, she moaned out, "You'd better."

**AN: Well here is the second in the triple release for the day, I hope some of you were impatient for it. ;) I've never really done comedy before, but after the grim subject matter of 'The Synod' I wanted some light hearted stuff so I wrote two of this story. If you enjoy my work and want both an exclusive content and a very positive community, well join my discord server, invite code is on the author page. If you want to support my projects, you can donate to my dot com slash godrising, which will turn my stories into free audiobooks and ebooks complete with artwork. No I don't plan to profit, I just want to create something awesome, and frankly I'd love to send a finished copy to the series creator. I hear he loves fanfiction.**


	4. Beastmen's Legacy

The day the departure was announced publicly was as unhappy as it was proud. Unhappy, because sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, would bid farewell to their kin knowing full well that some of them would not be coming home. The former village was not a place made up of cowards though, and tears or no, brave faces were put on for the occasion.

For the original inhabitants of the village on the crossroads between East, West, and South, this was a chance to truly repay their lord for all his support. For those who settled there, it was a chance to demonstrate their loyalty to their new home. For those who accepted him as their god, this was a chance to show their devotion. For the ambitious, it was a chance to show their bravery. But for everyone who had family or friends, not only human, but nonhuman, those who had become comrades with demihumans, beastmen, elves or dwarves, it was much, much more.

For those it was a fight for the future and a way of life that had been born from the will of the Sorcerer King, eyes had been opened to the common bond of community that could exist, and now DID exist, where they were not blinded by a different flesh any longer.

Or so he was saying as they stood in the new arena, watching him speak.

Ainz stood before tens of thousands of pairs of eyes from his personal dais in the arena, inwardly, the long time office worker sighed, he was stressed, so much was at stake…but when was that not the case?

"Just do it Ainz." He said to himself and looked down at the units arrayed below. This was the unit that made up the elites, a single band formed out of the many volunteers, the winners of contests of combat. A practice taken from Neia when she built her elite unit, he did the same, and these were honored by being allowed to form up in the arena's center during his visit, they stared up at him in rapt attention, minotaur, human, vampire, elf, dwarf, or something else, membership in their ranks required victory and nothing more. Ainz took a deep breath that he didn't need, and began.

"Wars have for thousands upon thousands of years, been fought for land, for wealth, for power and for hatred." He began, his voice carrying to every ear, with a noble ring to every syllable.

"This however, is not one of those wars. We fight this war to end folly! We fight this war that your brothers and sisters be judged for who they are, not what they are! We fight this war because if we do not, some of you will be hunted, many will be slaves, and many others would be dead! We stand against the tide of a failed past that divided you by the flesh of your birth and not the content of your spirit!" He raised his skeletal hand and drew a pointed finger around the arena.

"You who stand here will not be fighting for me alone, but for your homes! For your kingdom! For your futures! Every day you have trained and grown in power not for petty personal ambitions, but that you be a shield for what is yours! You who stand there below, in disciplined ranks bearing sword and spear, bow and shield, fang and claw… You are rightly honored! You are honored because you place your bodies between all that you love… and war's desolation! People of Carne! Salute your soldiers!" He shouted, and he rendered his own first and fastest to the massed ranks before him, placing his fist where his heart would have been.

As if compelled by some spirit of unflagging will, the arena stood as one, feet clapped together with the sound of thunderous unity, and salutes were rendered by big and small, young and old, and from the massed ranks of the elite division, cheers erupted that cracked the very skies.

Within the arena's stands, a white haired boy stood beside his mother, when the salute was broken, and the cheers began to fade, a little whisper passed from parent to child. "That's him Goan. He's the one who made you what you are." Her hands folded in to clasp one of her son's as she spoke.

"I understand mother." He said in the serious tone he often had. "Will you try to present me to him today?" He asked, looking back at her with his shining dark eyes.

"Yes, but he is a king, we can't simply approach, we will go to the house of the General Enri, he's sure to come and see her. Then he can see what his blessing forged inside me." She said with breathless anticipation.

"I will make him proud mother. I will make you proud. I will repay our debt." He said in a voice of absolute confidence.

As he finished speaking, from behind him came General Enri, she stepped up and two paces to his left.

"All of you know who I am, so I will make this brief! I am not the profound speaker our divine lord is, so listen well. Not all of you may make it home, but I promise you, you will not face a danger that I am not willing to face myself! You will not be left for the crows if you fall, abandoned and forgotten as so many of our past leaders treated us all…" As she spoke that sentence, the common ground between those who been conscripted under the kingdom, and those who had been compelled to serve Jaldabaoth, was that both experienced sadly similar memories. "If you fall, you will not fall for nothing, and you will be remembered for your courage and so long as our banner flies, you will never truly perish!"

Cheers met her final call, and she turned on her heel and faced the Sorcerer King just as the strategist Sun had taught her. She held herself rigidly to attention and he said, "I entrust my children to you General Enri, bring them victory first, then bring them home again." He rendered a salute, which she returned.

"I accept the command sire." She said, and they lowered their salutes in unison.

Ainz turned to leave, but as he did so he paused and looked down at the soldiers one more time, "Oh and one more thing, departure is tomorrow, so tonight, drinks are on me for every soldier in uniform! But don't be late tomorrow!"

That brought a fresh round of cheers as General Enri dismissed her soldiers and the arena began to empty.

As they walked out of the private access route, Ainz chose to speak with her. "You are ready." He said.

"I am." She said confidently.

"I wasn't asking. I was reminding. When you doubt it, and doubt it you will, remember that I told you, you are ready." He said and touched her shoulder.

The touch of this supremely powerful being broke apart her old world and remade it into something new, better, happier, and for that reason Enri found it comforting.

"Thank you." She said sweetly. "That means a lot coming from you sire."

He nodded sagely, "Tell me General Enri, do you see me in the way they do, as a god?" He asked as they passed through the long tunnel that curved slowly down to the ground floor.

In the shadow's cast by the soft blue continual light torches, she pondered her answer.

"Permission to speak freely sire?" She asked.

"I would have it no other way." He said in abundant relief, this was what he wanted.

"Sire, to me that doesn't really matter, not in the least." She said, he paused in mid step, and as she walked one pace further and turned to face him, her arms opened at her side.

"You go to war over the issue, but it doesn't matter?" He asked.

"Yes, your majesty." She gave a gentle, motherly smile that reminded Ainz of the one he lost. "You see to me, you are the only king worth serving. You don't use our bodies as toys, you protect our children, you teach us as if we were your own little ones, you give us a future. You're more a father or grandfather to us than a god, even with all your power. If you are a god, if you're not a god, it doesn't matter to me, because we will serve you anyway."

He looked at her in surprise, so she continued to speak, "Yes you're powerful, and that alone might be enough to draw service to you for safety, but we will always give you our hearts because you mean so much to us, you call us to be more, better, greater, and set an example for us to follow. If that is what it is to be a god, then you're a god, and if it isn't, well we're your people anyway, right to the bitter end, because you show you deserve it. If what you want is for us to kneel in prayer, then we'll kneel and pray. If you don't, well I think some will do that anyway." She gave him a little smirk and brushed away a stray hair from her face.

"In the stories of past kings, the good kings were the fathers of their people and not just the ones barking orders. In the stories about gods, the gods came down and saved people in trouble from dangers they couldn't possibly defeat. You've been both a father and a god if we go by what stories say, but more than that, you've given us the means to greatness, we're not just peasants scrabbling desperately at dirt to exist, to live another day as we claw desperately away from the edge of death. Maybe that makes you a god, maybe you are just the greatest king to ever be. All I know, all I need to know, is that you deserve your place and our service, my service, even if it costs me my life." She took his skeletal hand in one of hers in a bold affectionate gesture.

"Not just because I owe a debt I can never repay for the life of my little Nemu, but for everything you're doing every day!" She said passionately and clutched her hand to the cloth over her breast, she breathed heavily for a moment, her words had tumbled out like a wave crashing on the shore. "So please, if you ask because you doubt yourself, don't, because just like you said to me your majesty, you're ready for this!"

Ainz touched her cheek gently, "Thank you, General Enri. I will not forget what you've said." He could not smile, not with that face, but she sensed that if he could have, he would have. "The truth is though, I have found doubt to be a gift, it is when we question ourselves that we sometimes find the most unexpected and most helpful answers. A little self doubt is sometimes all that stands between a man and the monster he might become. Think of the ones who came to your village. The man who lead the scripture, and the scriptures themselves, all believed they were doing the right thing by killing you all, just like they'd killed the other villagers before you. They never doubted the rightness of their choice, they never questioned their path, and that let them wreak any havoc they wished, with absolute certainty that they were the heroes of this world."

He shook his head solemnly, "You may be confident, and still question yourself, you may be certain and still leave room for doubting too. And that goes for me as well. Shall we go to your home now, General Enri? I should like to see how Nferia, Nemu, and Kuuderika are doing before I return to my duties."

"O-Of course your majesty!" Enri said as she blushed red.

They wound their way out and mounted a pair of undead horses and rode back to the interior of the city, eventually finding their way back to Enri's home in amiable silence.

Outside the house, Enri and the Sorcerer King saw Nemu and Kuuderika were sitting on a bench talking. When they saw Enri, they jumped up and waved, and when they recognized that the Sorcerer King was with her, they began waving harder.

As they drew closer and he dismounted, the pair knelt in deference until he told them to rise. Before he could say anything, Enri looked at them curiously and asked, "Why are you two out here?"

"We were just figuring out something to do, see Nferia said he had a surprise for you, and it was just for you and he needed privacy." She had a mischievous grin on her face that told Enri exactly what the surprise almost certainly was.

She saw the Sorcerer King's blank face out of the corner of her eye and began to blush a very deep red. "Ahhh, excuse me your majesty, let me just um… check the house OK?"

She didn't wait for an answer but scurried in and slammed the door behind her.

"So, how are you two?" The Sorcerer King asked.

Inside, Enri looked around, a trail of rose petals on the floor leading to the bedroom, a stamina potion on the table, and… some hanging on various places along the walls, she slapped her forehead. "Of all the times…" she thought to herself and she strode along the path the roses made and yes, there it was a very naked Nferia on the bed…with a dozen stamina potions in a stand on the desk.

"Hello dear…" He began, then he saw her face. "Uh, something wrong?" He began.

His question was answered with the sound of the Sorcerer King's and Nemu's voices as she opened the door.

"I know you don't mind a little mess, it's only a few stray flower parts after all, so please come in your highness." Nemu said archly.

"Well thank you Nemu, Enri you should know well enough by now that I don't find your home dis…grace…ful…" He trailed off, Enri stood at the doorway to the bedroom and looked over to where he stood. Her jaw dropped as she saw him looking around. His gaze fell on the petals. Then over to the table. Then over to each of the various stamina potions handing from the walls, and finally on the beet red and very embarrassed expression of Enri, while from within the room there was the furtive sound of somebody trying to set a speed record for getting dressed.

Ainz's mouth stayed open, and Nemu pointed at her big sister and laughed.

"Neeeeemuuuuu!" Enri said as the door opened behind the pair.

Kuuderika poked her head in to say, "I told her she shouldn't do that." She tugged on the Sorcerer King's robe, and he discreetly backed out the door.

He waited outside with Kuuderika for a few minutes while Enri shouted her embarrassment and the trio frantically got the house looking like it was not prepared for a marathon session between husband and wife.

Ainz was very glad he could not blush at that moment, the sound of petals being swept up had never been louder, of that he was sure. It was while he was contemplating that, that a young woman approached with a young boy in tow.

She looked familiar, though he didn't know the boy. Of course, however, they knew him, and knelt in his presence as they came closer.

"Your majesty." The woman said with a significant amount of reverence in her voice. "It is an honor to kneel before you."

"You may rise." He said to them and he looked at Kuuderika. "Friends of yours?"

She grinned. "Yes, this is Goan, and this is his mother, Moira." She said, gesturing to the pair.

"Goan?" Ainz asked curiously.

He was about to question further when the front door was yanked open and a red faced trio standing within said, "Please come in."

Nemu, Ainz noted, looked redder from laughing too hard than from embarrassment, and on some level, he wondered if Pereroncino had visited one of her ancestors and passed on his twisted sense of humor.

Nonetheless he felt grateful to his emotional inhibitor as he went back in for a second time. Nferia bowed politely, "Sire I hope we didn't offend you by keeping you waiting."

"Not at all." He said and waved it away, "Please, don't mention it, and believe me, I mean that." He said with some discomfort evident in his voice. Nferia blushed again but nodded earnestly, eager to forget what had just happened. A look at Nemu's face however, told him she had no plans to let that be forgotten anytime soon.

When Enri saw Goan and his mother outside as well, she immediately called them to enter as well. "Moira, good to see you." She smiled softly.

They entered and took seats around the table. "I can't believe I'm sitting across from the Sorcerer King." Moira said, her entire body was shaking.

As Enri laid out places for tea and began to pour, Ainz spoke up. "There is no need to be afraid, I will not hurt you." He said in a noble voice.

She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head rapidly. "No sire, no, no it isn't that, I'm not shaking because I'm frightened of you, I could never be frightened of you."

He looked at her curiously and chuckled a little. "Not often I hear that either."

"You… did save us after all." She said in a motherly way and touched Goan's hand. The boy stared intently at the Sorcerer King, there wasn't a trace of hostility that Ainz could detect, it was more like he was trying to commit to his memory every line of his face.

"Oh?" Ainz said. "You do look familiar, but I don't think I've met your son, was he not with you at the time?" He asked.

The woman's eyes welled up with tears of joy, "Yes sire…he was… but he was… he was… he was here." She said and placed her hand over her belly.

"We were at Ha'ak Pale… years ago when your majesty drove away the beastmen with his overwhelming power. I was younger then of course, I was due to birth my boy in a week or two…the beastmen taunted me about it, how…how good he would taste. Every night I prayed to the gods for a miracle, as did the other mothers to be…many never got that miracle, but then you appeared, you killed them all and saved us. Then, you blessed my son." She said, her voice in a reverent hush as Enri and Nferia heard the story for the first time.

"Blessing of the Dark." Goan said helpfully.

Ainz touched his chin thoughtfully, "So you're the woman from that time, and you," he gestured to the solid white haired boy, "would be the result."

"I am, your majesty." He answered in a serious voice.

"I admit I did wonder what happened to you both, I am glad to see you are well." He said.

"Yes, your majesty, your servant is well, as is the child you shaped within her according to your will." She said proudly, and he wished very deeply that she had phrased that differently than she had.

Goan got up from the table and went to where the king sat, and he took to one knee with his head bowed. "Though I am… younger than I may appear, know majesty that I make this oath as any man would. The life you saved is yours, work your will through me until it is ground to dust."

Ainz didn't really blink, in fact he couldn't make any expression at all other than opening or closing his mouth, sometimes that was annoying, but now he was grateful, the entire room was watching him as this unexpected wrinkle appeared, and Moira was beaming proudly with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Sire, you were more a father in five minutes with my unborn child, than my worthless husband ever was, please know that my son's fealty is also mine, I am a citizen of the Sorcerous Kingdom now, and all we are is yours." Her voice had the same fanatical devotion as a certain diminutive pope he knew, there really was no way out, with no plan, all he could do was wing it.

"I accept your oath." Ainz said and touched Goan upon the top of his head. "For now, though, you are still young, so know that it is my will that you grow up wise, strong, and healthy, that you are able to carry my justice with you wherever you go."

"I will, sire." He said in an unflinching voice.

Moira sighed heavily as her body relaxed. "Now I can go to war, confident that no matter what happens, my son's future is set."

"War?" Enri asked, "You enlisted?"

Moira nodded.

"But who will take care of Goan?" Ainz asked.

"I have…made arrangements with another couple in the village, they will look after him, I have a debt your majesty, one I can't repay from behind the lines, you saved me, you saved my son, you gave him a godly gift, even if it was just some divine whim, to be done and forgotten, it all meant everything to me and to us." She said with a kind of fanatical passion.

"I know that in your grace you would ask that I stay behind, but Goan understands far more than a boy his age normally does, and he supports me in this, I can only be satisfied if I face your enemies head on, as you faced those who came to rob us of our lives…please do not try to talk me out of it, and please…though I will follow your orders, I beg you not to order me to abandon my heart's oath." Her tone of voice was equal parts proud and pleading, and Ainz let out a sigh.

"If I am a god, it is not the god of eloquence, because I do not think I could talk you out of this, and that is what it would take to do so." Ainz said gently.

She shook her head in denial. "Not even that, your majesty." Her voice was quiet and motherly again.

"Very well, though I suppose I should take responsibility as well." He said reflectively, "I'm sure TouchMe would scold me if I separated three friends, as well as allowed a mother to be parted from her child all over the same meal, so how about this? Since you insist upon this choice Moira, I will allow you your wish, however Goan will spend at least some of the time while he's gone, under the tutelage of my guardians, and the same will go for Nemu and Kuuderika, assuming they wish it and their guardians accept the offer." Ainz said, turning to Enri and Nferia as he brought up the two girls.

"I think we can all drink to that." Nferia said as he raised up his cup of tea.

"Ahhh, did you forget I can't drink?" Ainz asked archly.

There was a collective sigh and Enri said what the rest were thinking, "God of jokes your majesty, you are not."

**AN: Well that was fun, hope you've enjoyed the ride along the way and everything, like I said, needed a break from the serious stuff for a few days. :) Might do God Rising tomorrow, but it has been a long week so I might just take a break for the day. Thanks for reading and by all means, tell me what you thought, I feed on reader interaction. If you would prefer to just show your appreciation by donating to charity, you can do so at bdgiving dot org. **


	5. From Small Misunderstandings

There was an intense stare from Moira as Enri dared to make a joke at the expense of the Sorcerer King. To jest at a king's expense had ended many a life, and it was difficult to accept that anyone could or would do so at the expense of one who was on path to being recognized as a god.

Ainz however, was happy, thankfully, not enough to trigger his emotional suppressor, but enough that he could let his mouth fall open in a mild laugh of his own. He shrugged his hands at chest height and nodded. "I cannot disagree."

Moira however, continued to stare.

"You think it strange that I should laugh at a joke at my expense." He guessed, and she nodded quietly.

"A god that cannot laugh is a pitiable thing, a king that has no sense of humor will create a joyless realm, a person who cannot laugh at themselves must have little confidence in who they are. If I'm to be a god, then I will be one who can find humor in the kind teasing that his dedicated followers would use. I have known General Enri for years, I have no doubt that to the bottom of her heart she is dedicated to my service, absolutely loyal to the point where she will risk everything, and I know she will do that, because she has done that before. If such loyalty is not rewarded with so much as a little self-deprecating laughter, what good is it?"

Moira's gentle peasant eyes glistened, nor were hers the only ones, even Enri, the one who cast the joke casually at him, was visibly moved.

What the man within did not say, was how much moments like this reminded him of his precious friends, how they could laugh and joke with one another, and even if he could not have it all as it was with those mortal humans who now served him…such little moments helped him recollect the moments of the past. It was a little debt on his heart's ledger, one of the many tiny things that these small beings did for him that made him desire to be a good king. Memory - Sometimes that was all that kept him bound to his sense of identity, but a firmer string could not be imagined, as new memories helped, however little, to fill an aching void that would never truly vanish.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, Ainz questioned Goan about his life and experiences, and the incident with the would be bully came up. He did not like bullies, as an early orphan with no parents left to care for him, and being a small boy, he was an easy target. Those were not pleasant memories.

"So, this one is a problem, is he? Lupusregina?" He called over to the maid who stood in reverential silence by the door.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" She asked, snapping out of her reflective thinking as she internalized everything her master said and did.

"Pay a visit to that boy and his mother, see to it that they understand that such undignified and abusive behavior does not have a place in my realm. Don't kill or maim…just… remind. Gently." He said, raising a finger to emphasize his final instruction.

Lupusregina gave a malicious happy smile. "Aye, ah'd be happy to. -su!" She scratched the back of her head and giggled eagerly.

"I think that will take care of that, though long term perhaps I should consider providing behavioral training for children in school, the young need guidance and not every parent is prepared to provide it." He said thoughtfully, tapping rhythmically on the table.

"Yes… yes, a core educational curriculum is not merely for the student to learn facts, but also to prepare them to be able to function socially, this would also likely ease the integration of demihumans and other younger heteromorphic races as they grow up." He started talking in a low but audible voice, clearly speaking more to himself than anyone else.

The rest of the table just stared as they watched another revolution unfold at the table of a peasant general.

When their time together ended, Ainz bowed his head towards the trio of children. "I know I am taking those you love away from you, and it may be for a long time, but it is not for nothing, and they will be as protected as they can be. I will not promise falsely that everything will be perfect, but they go to defend the world you have, and to give you a better one, so try to be brave. I will not let you suffer want, no matter what happens. I swear this in the name of Ainz Ooal Gown."

The three nodded their heads gravely. "Goan, after your mother leaves and you've settled in at your temporary residence, go and find Lupusregina, she will take you to Nazarick, there I will take responsibility and see that you are well prepared to fulfill your oath when you become a man."

Lupusregina's grin had gone from malicious, to ecstatic, she was practically shivering in delight. "Oh, Lord Ainz is so coooool!" She thought to herself as he moved to leave. Devoted bows bade him farewell, and the girls spent another night with Goan, as Enri did her best to find out the upper limits of stamina potions with her husband.

The march out of Carne was a huge spectacle when it finally happened. General Enri looked resplendent in her armor, she wore the Armor of Command, white with runic signs placed at multiple points, and inlaid with the emblem of the Sorcerer King in gold. Such extravagant equipment, most kings would struggle to afford. Her golden hair meticulously done by one of the Nazarick maids, she looked the part of a hero out of myth. The buffs of her armor gave her voice power, courage to those around her area of effect, fear to her enemies, and stamina for herself. Four runes was a high number still, and this was some of the best the dwarves could make. At her side was a sword engraved with a rune for sharpness, and it felt good to carry it.

She rode atop an undead horse flanked on her left by her adviser, the goblin strategist Sun. She let the corner of her eye drift to the right, Lupusregina wasn't with her, she had the Sorcerer King's mission to see to first. While she wasn't afraid, she'd sleep easier when the maid returned. She held her gaze forward on the long road, and behind her the ground quaked as heavy infantry, light infantry, cavalry, and others, all moved with her. Overhead, dragons flew in a circle pattern that kept them over the formation, they added their terrifying roars to the cheers of the crowd and the sound of marching feet. Somewhere in that formation, far from General Enri, a peasant woman that had quivered in fear years before, clutched a spear in hand and marched in a light infantryman's armor, and made ready to repay a debt long overdue. This time, she felt no fear. The world she loved, that was bound up in a little boy who was older than her years, was safe no matter what happened to her.

The endless ranks marched on and on over the paved road, filing out the gate and snaking along the winding road leading south. The native villagers of Carne were the most eager of them all, every step brought them closer to repaying the Slane Theocracy for their last visit to the then little village, and in more than one mind, the thought, "Payback is a bitch", resounded.

When Goan met with Lupusregina Beta after everything was taken care of and he'd settled into his temporary home, he was as stern faced as ever.

"You're not one to smile a lot, are you?" She asked him as she got down on his level.

"Do other kids smile when their parents leave?" He asked, for a moment, throwing her for a loop as she couldn't tell if he was really asking or not.

"I guess not, but I don't think I've ever seen you do it." She said pointedly.

He shrugged, "I just don't much, I do sometimes, but… I'm not that good at joking, soooo… it's just when other people do or say something funny."

"Mhmmm…" Lupusregina said, touching her finger to her lip and looking up thoughtfully, "Interesting." She shook her head, "Well, it doesn't matter, you'll be gawking soon enough." Behind her, a gate opened. "Come on, let's go." She said.

They stepped through the gate and found themselves in the throne room. Ainz was seated at the top of the stairs on the Throne of Kings, arrayed around the room were the guardians and numbers of their subordinates, such as various maids. Goan looked around, a tranquil expression on his face, his white-gold hair made him stand out among people, but as he looked around, he thought, "Only being suitably strong would make someone stand out here." That was the impression he got anyway.

He wondered that he did not feel the anxiety he was sure he should have, with the eyes of demons and monsters locked onto his small form, yet he did not. Instead, his calm demeanor was underlaid by a kind of comfort, like the warmth of his mother's arms when he was small. His dark eyes cast about independently, and Lupusregina took his hand in hers and began to walk forward.

His placid face did not alter its expression, yet he was indeed awed by the matchless beauty of the Sorcerer King's home. When they came to the foot of it, Lupusregina let go of the hand she'd gently held, and the two took a graceful knee at the steps.

"I have brought the boy, per your command, Your Majesty." Lupusregina said, her voice quivering with excitement. Rumor had swept around Nazarick since the General Assembly about a blessing bestowed by their god onto a human, the confirmation of the rumor's truth by Lupusregina refreshed those rumors and sparked off all manner of speculation, but now here he was in the flesh.

Cocytus looked over the boy from where he stood and a memory came back, of talking about carrying an heir of his lord on his shoulders and providing him with instruction, imparting all he knew of combat. This boy was… not what he was expecting, he had no wings, no fangs, no indication of heteromorphism was present at all. He did have good eyes though, and a quiet spirit.

Aura and Mara looked at him like he was an unexplained puzzle, he was around their height, but they knew he was somewhat younger than he looked. Aura snorted a little out of jealousy. Being the only two true 'children' in Nazarick had been a nice thing as far as she was concerned. Only a tug at her sleeve and a pleading look from Mare kept her from voicing her dissatisfaction with the visitor.

Demiurge stood near the Throne of Kings and looked down at the boy. He had good manners at least, and he'd been chosen by his master, so that automatically elevated the child at least in terms of utility, but utility for what remained uncertain. So, he looked at the boy like an experiment being studied to see what the result would be. Of particular interest were his hair and eyes, the white-gold hair was also coincidentally… the color of their master's bones, the eyes did not have the red pupils, but they bore the darkness that surrounded those red orbs. Also… he sensed… the boy felt comfortable rather than terrified, an uncommon reaction for a first time visitor.

Shalltear and Albedo each retained a facade of calm, but inwardly they were divided against themselves. While both knew that Ainz had not 'conceived' this boy within his mother, he had touched her, and they were always jealous of that. Furthermore, he had chosen to bless her, he had shown her favor, shown him favor, and they had no idea why. If he was as an heir, should they love him as if he were the child of their master? If he was a tool, should they treat him with cold courtesy? There was no signal to go by which allowed them to determine the will of their implacable master. From their place at his right hand, the pair shared a look at one another. While they were rivals in love, this was a new situation. To that end, when their eyes met, they conveyed a silent truce until the question of the boy was settled in their minds.

The maids were fidgeting with uncertainty, this was a new wrinkle in their world. Most of them were somewhat frightened of the outside world, since the invasion their creators had stopped years ago, and though they had seen outsiders before, Neia, Skana, a handful of adventurers or other rare figures, these were always known quantities of some kind, allies or servants. Goan was an unknown in almost every regard except for the electric excitement brought on by speculation born of the knowledge that he was chosen for their master's blessing of the dark. For a few, it was not unnoticed that they felt more uncomfortable with him, than he did with all of them.

For the combat maids, opinions were mixed but optimistic, largely because Lupusregina herself seemed so comfortable and enthusiastic.

Sebas eyed the boy critically, he had a calm demeanor, stern, intense. Not passionate like Climb was, not fanatically energetic like Neia. He wondered quietly just what sort of man this one would be if he grew up.

"Welcome to my home." Ainz said in his customarily noble voice.

"Thank you for having me, Your Majesty. Your home is truly awe inspiring, as are your servants, in all their beautiful and terrible forms, which I am sure your enemies tremble to behold." Goan said, doing his best to put force into his voice.

There was a general rumble of approval at his appraisal. "You're being too noisy. Quiet down." Ainz said with a wave of his hand, bringing silence to his hall.

"While your mother is away, you will be permitted frequent entry here, to learn and to study what my guardians have to teach you. The library and other recreational areas are accessible to you, and if you attain permission from the household in which you presently reside, on occasion you may stay overnight when you've worked hard enough to earn it. You are not to interfere with the work of my servants, but you may ask whatever you wish, and while here I will provide you with a maid."

He turned to the maids, "Tuare." He said.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty?" She said as she stepped from the wall and knelt facing him. The other maids looked at her with a measure of jealousy, time of any sort in service to their master was a treasure.

"You will attend to Goan whenever he is in Nazarick, he will be your priority. Questions?" He asked.

"None, Your Majesty." She said deferentially.

"Then the three of you, rise, Lupusregina, you should open a gate to Enri. Goan, my house is your house." He said, casually using the common expression. "I have other matters to attend to, so I will be in my office, I leave you all to your tasks." He said, then cast Teleportation and vanished.

What he did not realize was the impact of his casual words on his guardians or the rest of Nazarick. Albedo and Shalltear looked at each other in shock, but they were not the only ones. Demiurge was the first to act, recognizing the swelling of words that were filling everyone's thoughts, and the desperate desire to give private voice to them among their comrades. "Tsuare, take Goan to a private room and allow him to get comfortable, draw him a bath and provide him with clothing suitable for a noble's time in Nazarick."

Tuare smiled softly, "As you wish, Lord Demiurge." She said and reached down to take the boy's hand. Goan gave Demiurge a courteous nod as his hand slipped into that of the maid, and he allowed her to lead him away.

When they were gone, the guardians only had to trade a look and Shalltear opened a gate through which every one of them walked, finishing with Sebas, for guardian or not, he was of high enough status to be called a colleague. There they were alone in one of the private break rooms, and Albedo was the first to speak.

"You all heard it." She said softly, "He said this was his house! He assigned him a maid, a human maid, but still. And we are to train him?! Teach him?! It's clear this boy is to be his heir!" She exclaimed.

"I know what he said, but…" Shalltear pursed her lips and she paused her sentence for a moment of uncertainty, "are we sure he meant it the way it sounded?"

"Do you doubt your master's words?" Demiurge said sagely as he walked between the place where Albedo and Shalltear sat. Most, save for Cocytus, preferred to sit, but Demiurge always stood, taking position between the two warring women.

"No…" She said reluctantly, "But does that mean he has given up on producing an heir through me?" She asked in a heartbreakingly forlorn tone.

"Or me…" Albedo asked with equal distress, her eyes were downcast and uncertain, through each woman the thought ran that they might have done something to drive his affections away from them years ago, and yet neither of them could figure out what it might have been.

"Not at all." Demiurge said, "Have you not seen it?" He asked.

"What?" The attention of the room turned to him.

"Do not forget our Lord desires this entire world for himself, a single ruler, no matter how wise, would be hard pressed to attend to everything, and what is more, he promised this same blessing to Emperor Jircniv and his wife, did he not?" He asked.

Albedo's face began to change to one of greater confidence and happiness as she started to see where Demiurge was going with his analysis, but the others remained fixed on his words.

"It is my judgment that the boy 'Goan' is to be a kind of heir, the first of them, a combination of asset and experiment. If the boy turns out to be a failure, well he will die off because he is naturally mortal, if the boy thrives and succeeds, he bears the Blessing of the Dark, and will accomplish much, when he proves himself, our master will grant him immortality and rule over a region of the world. Our lord's masterful ten thousand year plan is obvious, nobody will rule a nation who is not of his line in some way, by blood or blessing. Didn't you see, the boy's eyes shared the black tint behind our master's red, his hair the color of our master's bones, his mother, Lupusregina tells me, raised the boy to think of Ainz as more of a father than the birth one. He chose a peasant who would raise her son to be absolutely loyal to the will of Nazarick and to himself, and he clearly foresaw that since the boy has come from human stock, he will be much easier for humans to submit to as a result. Moreover, because he was born to a peasant, even the lowliest will believe they are seen as valuable in our master's eyes!" Demiurge became ever more ecstatic, he staggered back to the wall and slapped his forehead and laughed maniacally.

"It is genius, such absolute and utter genius, how could I have not seen it before! How could I have been so blind to this part of his masterful ten thousand year plan?!" He lowered his head in awe and dejection.

"I feel so useless to him, that I could not see even this much, how can I serve him well when he is so far beyond my comprehension, he prepared this years ago, and I didn't see it until the fruit of it knelt at his throne and he confirmed it like it was obvious." Demiurge sounded truly morose, it was a rare feeling, but it was one they understood.

"Now Demiurge, I realize how you feel, but none of us did any better. If you had not pointed it out, even I might not have realized it. Now that we think about his guise of Momon, it seems obvious. After all, he set himself up as the hero of the people and then used his own disguise to calm their fears so that they would follow him. This is a vastly more complex form of that plan, but achieves the same end, and all he needed to create a suitable ruler was a pregnant peasant of suitable temperament." Albedo said comfortingly. "We can never catch up to him, but we can still serve him, even from far behind."

"So, this means…" Shalltear began to ask.

"Yes, he certainly has not cast us off as the creators of his heirs." Albedo said with a kind of magnanimity towards her rival that could only be explained by the overwhelming relief she felt herself. It didn't last. "Naturally he'll choose me of course, I'm best fit for the role of mother to his child, who else could do better than I, after all, I have already mastered all the arts of a wife and a mother, and you haven't even grown the breasts you need to do a proper job of it." She said as she put her hand to her own ample bosom.

"You saggy bitch!" Shalltear shrieked and they took up combat postures.

"Calm yourselves." Sebas said in his calm and neutral voice, "Surely there is a better way to settle things."

That snapped them out of it. "Of course there is," Albedo said smugly, "I need only prove with this boy that I am the best possible mother, and he'll surely produce his next heir with me!"

"You?! Bah! I'm obviously a better fit than an old hag!" Shalltear said, "I'll prove it to you, and I'll prove it to Lord Ainz! I am the best potential mother!"

They were now lost in their own worlds, setting their own 'rules of engagement' in the bizarre way they did that nobody else seemed to understand, so the rest of the guardians got back to their discussion.

"I believe what Lord Demiurge is saying, is that we should all be sure to provide proper guidance to the boy, since he is to be an heir to Lord Ainz, per his final instructions to us. Is that right?" Sebas asked calmly.

"Correct Sebas, as expected of Nazarick's head butler." Demiurge said with the calm courtesy the two usually shared.

"So… he can ride on my shoulders then? And I will teach him combat?" Cocytus asked, revealing that his thoughts on an heir had never really left him.

"Precisely." Demiurge said, and Cocytus shivered in excitement.

"But, what do we do?" Aura asked for herself and her brother.

"You are guardians, but you are also children, you can teach him a lot, but as he is still a child himself, perhaps spend more time playing with him than anything else, he might like that." Demiurge said thoughtfully. "See if he has a talent for any sort of magic."

The discussion went on for some time after that, as the group discussed what they should do and how they should do it in order to carry out this step of the plan that Demiurge had revealed to them, but as they did so, they did it largely without Albedo and Shalltear, who had gotten lost in their own rivalry and were boasting and trying to top one another over who was going to be a better mother to the young boy.

**AN: Thank you for reading thus far, hope you're enjoying the story, next chapter goes back to a Nemu/Kuuderika focus, but I wanted to do a little comedy today and I hope this gave you a laugh where it was intended. If you enjoy my work and would like to support turning these stories into audiobooks (free obviously) you can support my on p atreon dot com slash godrising. If you'd rather show your appreciation in other ways, well you can recommend my work to others, leave a review, or just donate to my charity organization, bdgiving dot org.**


	6. Who Pays the Price of War

_...Nazarick…_

When Goan reached the room assigned to him, Tuare immediately asked, "Is there anything I can get for you, young lord?"

"I'm not a lord." He replied in a deadpan voice, "My mother is a peasant, a commoner in General Enri's army."

"While you are here, and as long as I am assigned to you, you are my lord." Tuare said softly, "Your wish will be my command." She bowed lightly and then smiled reassuringly.

"I don't know much about giving orders, and it seems strange for me to give orders to an adult." He said dubiously.

"You have ordered food before, haven't you?" She asked.

"Yes." He said thoughtfully.

"Treat this the same way, but just for other things, I will carry out your wishes and see to your comfort for as long as you are in Nazarick, it is my job, and I am proud to do it." Tuare said with a smile of reassurance.

"Oh, well thank you for telling me." He said.

"Of course, my lord." She said with another smile. "If you need nothing else, I will see to acquiring some suitable clothing for your use while you're here."

"Could I ask, where is a good place to… practice? I have routinely practiced with the trainers of Carne, but almost everybody is now gone with the army, and I don't want to get out of the habit." He asked politely.

Tuare looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. "I would suggest Lord Cocytus, or Sebas. Both helped develop the fighting system that you were probably learning. I don't know much about that stuff, but I'll bet they do." She said encouragingly.

"When you're retrieving something for me to wear, could I bother you to ask one of them for me?" He asked.

"It will be done, my lord." Tuare said sweetly as she bowed and exited the room.

Goan looked around as the door closed behind her, it was massive, this one room was bigger than any house he'd ever been in. The bed alone was the size of a place that he'd called a bedroom, or bigger.

He hopped up on it, it was supremely comfortable, he almost didn't want to sleep on it because anything else would be forever lacking by comparison. He walked to another room, and found an enormous bathtub made out of solid marble. He looked around for a pump, but didn't see one. He'd ask Tuare about it when she came back. He looked down at his feet, there was a carpet there, he barely even knew what bathtubs and carpets were, let alone had ever had either. He took off his shoes and scrunched his toes on it, the surface felt amazing. He glanced at the wall, there was a shelf full of books. He'd seen a few books, but just this one shelf had more in one place than he'd ever seen in his entire life.

Everything around him spoke of incalculable wealth. It was a lot to take in, and he was very grateful for whatever trait it was that kept his emotions in check so well. He laid himself down on the bed, folded his arms over his stomach and looked straight up above him, he felt comfortable like this, supremely so.

That was why he lost track of time until Tuare returned, and when she did, she carried several sets of clothing.

"My lord, I have brought something for you to change in to, shall I assist you?" She asked softly.

"No, I can manage." He said, "What of my other request?" He asked.

"Lord Sebas will see you to the arena, there he will teach you." She said. "Also, I have been informed that Nemu and Kuuderika have requested to join you for a session, is that acceptable?" She asked.

"Of course, I'd be happy to have them." He said with a hint of a smile.

A few minutes later, he was dressed, Tuare was gone, and he was following the tall dignified iron butler down into the arena. When he arrived, Nemu and Kuuderika were just gated in, and the large blue crystal looking insect monster was waiting for him.

"Before we begin, there is something I must ask." Cocytus said, looking at Goan.

"Please do." Goan encouraged.

"Would you like to ride on my shoulders?" He asked.

Goan paused at the unexpected question. "I've never ridden on anyone's shoulders before, I guess I'd like to try it."

A few minutes later he was thoroughly enjoying himself as the guardian fulfilled a thought that had been years in the making. Nemu and Kuuderika did their very best to suppress their laughter until after Goan was set down, and they were… not entirely successful.

The next few hours were spent with Sebas and Cocytus providing guidance on various forms of strikes and blows, using the Arena's advantages to set up training targets and even conjure minor opponents that would repeat the same action over and over in order to allow the trainee to master the appropriate counter attack.

Goan demonstrated that he was particularly adept at throws and grips, and gradually his training was modified to focus on his areas of excellence and to teach him counters for his weaknesses. It was only after hours of this that the trio grew hungry and Sebas led them to one of the dining areas of Nazarick. What they found waiting for them there was a smiling Albedo who was already laying out food on the table, a plate for Goan, Nemu, and Kuuderika. Sebas felt immediately on guard, but he saw nothing amiss.

"Come, sit Goan, we have to make sure you're eating well." She said with a matronly, warm smile.

Sebas suppressed a thought of frustration as he realized just what was happening.

The trio sat and Albedo immediately pushed his chair in and then virtually pounced on the boy, she started cutting his meat and asking him about his day, there was an array of questions but… she wasn't waiting on answers before asking the next one, and she kept cutting the meat into smaller and smaller bites, like she'd forgotten what she was doing in the first place.

"Ah, I think I can eat it now." He said, giving her a dubious 'I don't know about you' kind of look.

"Oh, oh of course." She said, "Open wide." She said and stabbed one of the tiny pieces of meat… and cracked the plate. She pretended however, that this didn't happen, and tried to put the food into his mouth for him.

He reached out and took the fork in hand, she didn't let go when he tried to gently take it. "I can do this part myself, you know."

"No no," Albedo said almost fanatically, "It's the duty of a good mother to make sure a child eats not only well, but safely."

"True, but not if they're going to eat that kind of slop!" Shalltear sneered as she entered the room. Nemu and Kuuderika were quietly watching all this as they ate their own food, and both, being on the cusp of womanhood themselves, recognized a battle between women when they saw it.

Shalltear approached as Albedo snapped up and stared daggers at the vampire.

"Slop!" Albedo snarled out. "I'll have you know I spent two hours cooking this from scratch, I put more effort into this than you put into stuffing your bra you fraudulent little lamprey!"

She let go of the fork and Goan quietly ate, looking at Nemu and Kuuderika and quietly asking with his eyes, 'What the hell do I do?'

"Eeeegh!" Shalltear exclaimed as she went red faced with anger, "Better a bra stuffer than a saggy breasted old maid! Face it, the milk has soured, bitch!"

Goan was eating faster (it actually was quite good), as were Nemu and Kuuderika, the food was vanishing off of their plates with ever increasing speed.

"I'll show you how to cook real food for a growing boy!" Shalltear snarled and she rushed to the kitchen.

"Just because you have the chest of a boy doesn't mean you know how to cook for them!" Albedo retorted, "I'll show you how it's really done!" She said as they rushed together away from the table and to the back of the kitchen.

"Maybe if you spent less time thinking about those saggy bags and more time on important things, you'd have a chance with Lord Ainz!" Shalltear shrieked, the pair was very loud, and the trio that had now been abandoned by the two guardians was eating very quickly.

Goan set down his fork as his plate was cleared, with Nemu and Kuuderika finishing at almost the same moment.

"That was wonderful-thank you-now I hate to be a bother Sebas but it is probably best that we head back to Carne isn't it?" Goan said as fast as he could move his lips to get the words out.

"Yes, yes. I think it is, and now is the chance before they get back, they may be at it for awhile. I predict that they will each destroy the other's dishes at least four or five times before anything is actually made, but we should still go." Sebas said as he walked quickly but efficiently to the door, the children followed him out as fast as their legs could carry them without running. Just before the door closed, they first heard one crash, then another, followed by shouting between Albedo and Shalltear.

Neither had noticed the trio exiting after the iron butler, and he was quick to move the three to the office of Lord Ainz. He knocked politely, he hated to interrupt his lord, however it seemed for the best in this case.

He briefly contemplated informing Lord Ainz of the cat fight between the two guardians, but dismissed it, better to just send the trio back, over repeat visits it seemed reasonable to expect the two women to either tire of the fight or to settle it.

It took only a few minutes for Ainz to send them back to Carne so they could 'get used to' the absence of their usual parental figures, and to make plans for their return in the near future.

Goan in particular began to return to Nazarick frequently over the next few days, and each time he did so, it sparked a new battle between the two women.

"You think 'you' are fit to properly raise a boy?" Shalltear laughed with exaggerated glee, "You're probably the only succubus in the world that is an adult virgin, you'll be more innocent than HE is, what can you teach him?" Shalltear's grin went vicious as they argued in the private break room of the guardians.

"I on the other hand, not only have lots of experience with almost everything, I can provide him with the use of my vampire brides so that he learns how to be a proper man when he gets older. What will you do, bounce those things around and pretend they're for more than useless decoration?!" She exclaimed.

"I-I, well what will you teach him but how to be a gigolo, flatso?! All you'll teach him is how to be some kind of icky lolicon fetishest and not a proper man attracted to real women with real assets!" Albedo retorted.

Such fights became the norm either during or after Goan's visits, to the point where within a matter of days, Goan realized that whenever one of them was near, all he had to do was wait on the other to arrive and disrupt the former, and he could walk away without either of them noticing he was gone, and do as he saw fit. He continued to learn from Cocytus and Sebas on a near daily basis, and by chance he ended up spending time with Demiurge, who took to instructing him in strategy, and eventually months later when she took up residence in Nazarick, Vanysa, from whom he took an interest in the psychological manipulations used to break minds, and who was kind enough to take him into the air on occasion to experience flight.

Nemu and Kuuderika were frequent companions during times like that, eventually finding the sixth floor to be a favorite spot, where Aura and Mare began to play at games of 'hunting' with the trio, of particular interest to them when Shalltear and Albedo were going overboard and Goan 'snuck away' from their overabundant attentions.

All in all, it became a happy routine to the three of them, even with its 'oddities' from the vampire and the succubus. So it might have remained, until the day Goan was alone with Cocytus in the arena and he received a message from Lupusregina.

Goan was in the middle of a sword drill, holding the weapon straight out in front of him with his arm extended to train his muscles to get used to the weight, when Cocytus told him to put down the sword.

"What is it?" Goan asked calmly.

"It is your mother." Cocytus said.

"Yes?" He asked hesitantly.

"Moira volunteered for a mission along with several hundred others, luring a large army away from the city of Ikari." He said.

"And?" Goan asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"She is now missing in action, presumed dead." Cocytus said.

"Was her mission successful?" Goan asked.

"Yes." He answered.

"Then she didn't die for nothing." Goan replied with a calm expression on his face.

"No, she did not. But they do not 'know' that she is dead either." Cocytus pointed out.

"Are there any known survivors?" Goan asked.

"None." He answered.

"Did General Enri win her battle because of what my mother did?" Goan asked.

"Yes. Ikari City fell with ease because of your mother's mission. Many, many more of her army survived as a result." Cocytus said.

"Then I can only be happy, she would have had it no other way, because she has repaid her debt to His Majesty." Goan replied, and hefted the sword up, holding it out again to resume his session as if nothing had happened.

"No, no more today." Cocytus said with a shake of his head.

Goan lowered the sword. "What do we do next then?" He asked.

"Next, you go back to Carne." Cocytus said.

"Am I no longer welcome?" Goan asked uncertainly.

"It is not that, it is simply not the time." Cocytus answered.

"The harder I train, the less likely I am to 'go missing' one day." Goan pointed out.

"Not now. Go back to Carne, go spend time with Nemu and Kuuderika, we will be here, you can train again, but not today." The Guardian said firmly.

"Fine." Goan said passively and he held the sword out by its pommel to Cocytus.

The guardian took the blade and sheathed it, and within the hour Goan was back in Carne and over at the home of Nemu, Kuuderika, and N'firea.

When he knocked on the door, it was Nemu who answered, "Can I come in?" He asked. She nodded, something felt off. She stepped aside and gestured to the interior.

He came in and the door clicked shut behind him.

"What's going on, you seem different?" She asked.

"I was in Nazarick a little while ago." He said.

Nemu groaned, "Was Shalltear trying to teach you female anatomy on one of her vampire brides? Or was Albedo trying to breastfeed you? Or did they destroy each other's presents 'entirely by accident of course' yet again? What happened this time?" She giggled uncontrollably.

He shook his head, "No, I was training with Cocytus, he got a message from Lupusregina Beta."

Goan's voice, even when mirthful, always had a calm, centered air about it, like he was a placid lake that nothing could disturb, in school and in chores, nothing seemed to faze him, but something felt very, very wrong to her right now. As he was speaking, Kuuderika came out of her bedroom and headed for the kitchen area.

"What did auntie Lupu want?" Kuuderika asked curiously as she heard what he said.

He glanced over at her and said, "She got a message, it's my mother, she volunteered for a dangerous mission, and… General Enri let her go. The task she went out on was successful…" He trailed off, then went and put his hand out to the top of the table, he put a little weight on it as he spoke.

The girl's faces went pale. "And?" They asked.

"She's missing, my mother I mean, she's missing and presumed dead. There are no known survivors." He said softly.

Their hands covered their mouths in a gasp of horror.

"She… might be alive though, right?" Nemu asked gently as she approached the table.

"Would you believe that, if you were standing where I am?" He asked coldly.

"I-well…" Kuuderika stammered, "I mean I wouldn't just assume she's gone though; she might have been captured."

Goan's fist slammed down on the table and he looked at her angrily. "Come off it!" He snapped. "We've all heard the stories about what the Theocracy does! I know what they did HERE not that long ago, I know I'm younger than you two are but don't treat me like I'm an idiot!" The volume of his voice increased to a yell as his temper broke through his calm exterior.

"Hey, what's with all the yelling?" N'firea said as he came in from the back where he kept his potions. He was wiping his hands on his apron when Nemu spoke.

"It's Goan's mother, she's gone missing at the front, it's bad, she's presumed dead." Nemu's voice had a very sad note to it, and N'firea gasped in shock.

"No… no I'm… I'm so sorry." He said sincerely.

"Don't." Goan said.

"Don't what?" N'firea asked.

"Don't pity me. She signed up for this, she went out there by choice, she volunteered for that mission, and whatever she did helped save a lot of lives, she never taught me to accept 'pity' from anyone. She was better… better than that, never took it from anyone, and I… I won't either. I won't. I won't. I won't." As he spoke, the mask cracked, his face twitched, his eyes twitched, the constant state of control that seemed to be second nature to him then all at once fell apart and he fell to the floor, down to his knees, and started wailing for his mother. Till their dying day none of them was sure which one of the three had their arms around him first.

**AN: Thoughts?**


	7. Ashes to Ashes

Bone Daddy's Daughters

Written by: AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 7

...City of Carne Village...

Goan didn't stop for some time, he held on to N'firea's apron, his fists clenching cloth as tightly as his eyes shut against a world he did not want to see anymore, a world without his only family. Nemu, Kuuderika, and N'firea did not let go even when he went from loud to soft, or from soft to utterly silent. What he experienced was the kind of feeling both girls knew with great intimacy.

When the grip finally did break, he stood up straight again, "You'll excuse me." He said, "I should go talk to my fosters, they should know." Their grip on him slowly grew slack and they one by one stepped away, no longer barring his path.

"Thank you. I'd... like to be alone for a bit, take a little walk." He said, his face had gone expressionless, but the shadow in his eyes had vanished not a little, he turned, walked to the door and opened it. When he stood in the open doorway he looked back over at the family and said, "See you tomorrow." He then exited and shut it behind him.

The trio left behind shared a troubled look.

The next few weeks after Moira went missing were a tumult, the one 'bully boy' of the school had become much more quiet and subdued after Lupusregina paid a visit to his house some time before, and even when presented with the easy misery of the one who thought himself an orphan, he didn't attempt to poke at the white haired Goan.

Nemu and Kuuderika were his constant companions, and 'knife throwing' had become a popular game, with broken sticks serving as knives and the same tree was painted with a target at which to aim. The target was shaped like a man with a shield, on the shield was painted a series of concentric circles honing in on a small spot in the center, and various games were played where people would assign points to various spots on the outline. Nemu, whenever she saw the little thug, could not resist to look him in the eye, and aim for the crotch of the target. She enjoyed his silent winces.

Their education advanced and they graduated their grade level and moved up. This presented them the first real 'options' for their lives, unique extra curricular courses that would guide the course of their future lives. Options included martial training, magical training, and 'civil' training, each with subcategories that could be registered for.

Goan adapted to the feeling of his mother's loss, in a way it seemed to hone him to a sharp edge, in every visit to Nazarick he went straight for Cocytus or Sebas.

"...You are learning." Cocytus said. "...But most of all you must learn not to hesitate, if there is a fight that is not for training or for sport, it is probably to the death. Always be prepared to give a lethal blow, these are places that will result in swift or immediate death..."

"...To use your fist is to make your body into a weapon, you 'are' the means to triumph, and you carry it with you, if you can control your ki, there is little that can stand against you." Sebas said, "Now take up this stance..."

Too, the 'competition' between Albedo and Shalltear led to some 'educational' moments and options he might face in the future.

"...You are still too young for now," Shalltear said as she came close to him and touched his cheek, "but when you are of age, as Lord Ainz has favored you, it may be that you are given the gift of immortality, what would you say to being a vampire?"

"...To rule is to bear the weight of a thousand times your weight in paper, you must be diligent in administering to it all, for example, in these little blotches of ink shaped into letters shaped into words, are the lives of those who obey you absolutely. See this one, it is a request to be spared from a death sentence due to 'extenuating circumstances' leading to a criminal act. Those few words are his life, if you refuse, he will go to Demiurge, Neuronist, or Vanysa. If you grant him mercy, he may go to hard labor. If you grant him pardon, he will go free, and live his life again. So much, even for ants, is held in little bits of ink, so to rule well, you must consider many factors, as Lord Ainz does, like these..." Albedo said as she pointed to another sheet containing various details of the case. "So, why don't you decide his fate? You'll need to get used to these choices." She asked cryptically as she stood next to him.

That was how time passed for him in his world, until the day his mother came home. What was left of her. Her body was returned to him a few days after the fall of crossroads. All the fallen veterans of Carne who had gone with Enri and come back as corpses ventured home in one grand procession. Wagon after wagon, all of them painted a ghostly white, rolled over the road in a slow and winding path that followed the now immaculate road that marked Carne as an important place. By now there were none who did not know the meaning of such caravans, these were the honored dead returning home at last.

Unseen, from a familiar spot beneath a tree, a silent spectre of death stood watch over the fruits of his orders, he watched the price of his war flow inch by inch on white painted wheels through the gate and into Carne, and listened to the lamentations of those who had wounds opened in their hearts that would never truly close. Beside him stood Albedo, her hands folded demurely in front of her, silent as she thought she should be.

"Tell me, Albedo… what do you think it is like, to be mortal?" Ainz asked in a moment of reflection.

The question caught her by surprise. "Ah, I do not know Lord Ainz, please forgive me my ignorance! H-How do I correct it?!" She asked desperately and moved close to him, instinctively seeking to touch his royal robe and beg his indulgence.

"To be mortal, Albedo, is to be born not knowing you will die, and then one day coming to that inescapable conclusion that you will. A mortal, from the time they first learn of their death, can never escape awareness of it, and they must look at their finite span and ask, how should I use it? Some, such as Neia Baraja, have chosen to serve their fellows and save lives, until she came to my service and chose to serve me instead. Others, such as Clementine, chose brutal self indulgence, caring nothing for anything more than their own pleasure. Some, find meaning in their families, communities, or simple hobbies, but all know they march to the same end. And these…" he gestured to the passing wagons as the last of them came on, "these chose to fight, yes, they died, but they gave all they had. It is easy for an immortal to give time, because there is no end of it. But these, these had only a little, and they surrendered it all. Do you understand, Albedo?" He asked gently.

"I do, My Lord, and it is entirely right that such insects do so! To lay down what little they have for the god of this world is the greatest privilege they could ever ask for!" She said with shining yellow eyes.

Ainz sighed mentally, she had not… entirely understood. "Come along, let's go, leave them to mourn in peace." He said, bowed once to the distant final wagon, and opened a gate to depart, unaware that a few scattered eyes had seen the king they served, silently paying his fallen subjects a reverence that only kings of legendary quality could or would perform for those who died in service. The rumors spread like wildfire of his devotion and reverence for their sacrifice on his behalf. Volunteers for the front doubled within a day, in the city of Carne Village.

Within Carne itself, a great board was erected in the central square and the names posted with the list of dead so that the living could receive them. A great wailing went up from Carne the day the wagon train was to arrive. Women and children, husbands, fathers, mothers, the casualties from Carne in capturing Crossroads had been tremendous, far more than Ikari, as a result there was nobody unaffected. Even those who had not lost someone, certainly was close to someone who had.

Goan sat at the table with Nemu, Kuuderika, and other children of his class at lunch when their teacher came to them. The entire table, went still and silent. She touched his shoulder, and the chill of death swept the table of the young, her touch was now familiar. Teachers from other classes had gone and touched the shoulders of other children the same way, and every time without fail, a child's wail had gone up thereafter. A brother, a sister, a parent, the price of war was told to them, and their family had paid it.

So when she touched Goan's shoulder, he reached up with his other hand and grasped hers, "I... already know. She went missing weeks ago, just... take me to her body. I want to see her again."

The teacher knelt, her young face a woman in her early twenties, free of lines from age, but now care worn from the solemn duty war had imposed upon her, her hazel eyes quivered in sympathy, "Goan you... don't want to see this."

"Wh-Why not?" He asked, his calm demeanor suddenly shaken.

"Because you should remember her how she was, not... not this way, you won't know her." The teacher said softly.

Goan ran through the litany of lessons he had gone through with Sebas and Cocytus, he knew exactly what that meant, he bit his lip but it had already begun to quiver all the way down to the chin. "No...what... did they tell you what happened?" He asked as his eyes already started to glass over.

"Yes, I was especially informed about her, General Enri sent a note... she died an amazing hero, she and her companions survived the fight where she vanished, then escaped a Theocracy prison and spent the siege sabotaging the efforts at defending crossroads. They then opened the gate and let our army in, this saved thousands and thousands of lives. She's being awarded the White Laurel, one of the highest military awards in the Kingdom, reserved only for those who die in the greatest acts of heroism in service to His Majesty."

"I... would still rather she be alive, than win an award but... she repaid her debt the way she promised, and she made the choices herself. I'm... proud of her." He managed to get out before he broke down again.

The children of the school had developed a particular custom in a very short period of time after the war first began to send home the dead. They would allot the task of comforting one another, to the table where the grief stricken sat. How it came to be, nobody could have said, but it was, and though the teacher remained, she knew enough to step back to let his peers cling to him until they were done. No schedules were kept on days like this, but if any administrator had a mind to complain, the front line always needed replacements, and none of them would have missed such a petty mind.

When the time came, she reached down and took his hand and led him away out of the room. Carne was much bigger than it had been in the past, but the small core area in which Goan now lived still had most things close by, and special consideration was given to the body of his mother, so he was able to receive her at their own home. He looked over to the teacher who had escorted him. She looked around the little home, dust was plentiful, the home was little visited now, as Goan had to live elsewhere.

"What happens now?" He asked her with a hint of fear at the unknown in his voice, hidden by a blank mask of an expression.

"Now I help you arrange for burial, her cyclic writ specified that end, but it didn't say where. Because she died winning the White Laurel, you're allowed to select a place. I can... I can get you a list if you like." She stammered out her words as best she could, but Goan's calm demeanor had restored itself.

"No, here is fine. This is... was, her home. Even if it was only briefly, and she'd never have wanted to be buried in the Draconic Kingdom. I'll keep ownership of this place, I'm her only heir, she'll rest easy. And... if it's alright, can you go back to school, I want to be alone here for awhile, everything will be fine, I promise." He said passively as he touched the coffin lid.

"Alright, I'll have someone come check on you later." She said anxiously, and slowly backed away until she was a dozen paces away, then she turned and left.

Alone with the remains, he decided to talk to her again. "They say I shouldn't look, and if they're saying that, I think you'd probably agree. So I won't, but... I want you to know I'll be OK, I've got friends here, I'm learning a lot, I'm getting stronger all the time. I'll plant a garden over you, and make sure this place is taken care of, and... and I'll make sure you always rest wherever our family is. So wherever you are, please don't worry. As long as I have Cocytus, Sebas, Nemu and Kuuderika, Enri and N'firea, even that weirdo Lupusregina, I'm not alone. Everything will be OK, I know things weren't always easy for you but... you can rest now, and I'll make things easier for your grandchildren." He smiled at the casket where his mother lay in silence, and a sunbeam shone through the window, striking the shining box where her head lay. He reached out as if to catch the mote of light within his hand.

He sniffled, "I wonder why I just did that?" He asked himself with a little smile at the casket, "I'll bet you'd know, you always knew everything. Goodbye mother, wait for me, alright?"

As he said that, a wisp of wind picked up and caught his white hair, and passed it over his cheek in a gentle caress, he looked over his shoulder, half expecting to find her there, but he was alone, and blinked away the blur from his eyes.

Then he went to where the tools were kept, took out a shovel, and set himself to work digging her grave.

He was three feet into it when Nemu and Kuuderika stopped by his home and found him at work. They gave one another a look, and asked in unison, "Where are the other shovels?"

"Back of the house." He replied, and resumed digging.

A few minutes later they were all three of them at the bottom of the hole, dirt flew out as they worked in silence. Dirt and filth coated their bodies as the sun passed overhead, but if any of them cared, they gave no sign, they were almost finished when N'firea's voice rang out.

"Nemu, Kuuderika, Goan! Are you over here?!" He shouted, concern evident in his voice.

"Yes! Down here in the hole, other side of the house!" Nemu called out, and one by one they tossed their shovels up out of the hole they'd dug.

N'firea found them almost immediately, then crouched down beside the hole and helped them out one by one, grasping their dirty hands and pulling them to the surface.

"What are you...?" He started to ask, until he saw the casket. "Oh. Never mind. Goan, I'm... I'm sorry." He said softly.

Goan didn't say anything, he just gave a quiet nod, "Can you... help me move her? I'm strong for my age, I know that, but still, this might be a bit much."

N'firea approached the casket and gave it a solid tug. It didn't budge, but his muscles did, his face strained as, his eyes shut tight and he tried with all his might to move it. "Ah, no, no I'm not going to be able to move that." He said as he wiped away the sweat that sprung to his brow.

"I'll have to call for some help... I hope they don't mind much." He said as he cast the message spell.

The three children waited patiently as he communicated with the other side, and a few minutes later Cocytus and Sebas emerged from a pair of [Gates]. "I am sorry for your loss." Sebas said in the quiet, regal voice that the butler of steel always held.

"She died valiantly, I am sure, my pupil, learn from her example in death, as you learned from her in life." Cocytus said solemnly in his gravel laced voice.

"Thank you... thank you both." Goan said, "And yes, I'll live up to her example. No matter what."

With that, the Guardian and the butler moved to either side of the shining box reserved for a hero's corpse, and picked it up with the greatest of ease, as if it weighed no more than a baggie of road biscuit rations. They took several easy steps, and lowered her into the rectangular hole. "Is she buried with her weapon?" Cocytus asked suddenly.

"N-No I don't think so, I... think it was destroyed." He said in a quivering voice.

"A warrior should never be without one." Cocytus said, and reached into his pocket dimension and drew out a small knife, and cast it down hard, hard enough that it embedded itself into the wood, to be drawn out if ever the dead arose and found need for the tool.

"Thank you... again." Goan said, then he went to the pile of dirt, took a handful, and dropped it into the hole. Without being prompted, Nemu, then Kuuderika, then Sebas, one by one did the same, handful by handful, they buried Moira's body. They were just finishing up, when the sun finally went down.

The days after the burial were hard ones for all three of them, not least because for Nemu and Kuuderika, a sister and mother were both at risk in the form of General Enri Emmot-Bareare, and the dead making their way home were a constant reminder of the risks she faced. Comfort was drawn from the knowledge that she was guarded by the absurdly dangerous red headed maid, but nonetheless that only added to their anxiety that something might happen to 'auntie Lupu'.

Life however, must move forward, even as it leaves the dead behind, to linger on only in memories, and leaving grief to be expressed in some unexpected ways.

"Goan, how come you haven't been coming home with us after school?" Nemu asked one day, with her eyes a shiny brown and her long brown hair still bouncing when she came to a stop in front of him.

He rubbed the back of his head in silence for a moment, "I've just, felt like doing something different lately." He replied.

"And what would that be?" Kuuderika asked as she strolled up slowly behind Nemu, her blue eyes soft as the blue of a rainbow, her hands folded behind her, she moved slowly and steadily compared to the rapid action of her adoptive sister.

"If you really want to know..." He said uncomfortably, looking away from them, they stared longer, and put hands on their hips and bent over him.

"You can't keep secrets from us." Nemu said firmly. "It's not fair."

"Uh, wait why not?" Goan asked, suddenly thrown off his thoughts with her statement and the pursed, almost pouting look.

"Because we don't have any to keep from you. That means you've got one more than we do!" Nemu replied in a huff.

Goan could not keep back the low laugh that sprang from within, though it cut off quickly and he let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, fine, bizarre as your reasoning is, I'll run with it. I've been... practicing."

"Practicing 'what' exactly?" Kuuderika asked inquisitively, leaning in closer over him. "You may not have siblings, but we're still your big sisters whether you like it or not! Fess up!"

"Look... I know how... Moira, I mean, my mother, died. I read the thing, the report they sent detailing her award. It was amazing, I'm really proud of her! But if it had been Cocytus, or Sebas, or even those creepy lady Guardians like the one who keeps trying to get me to breastfeed or the one who is always offering me a go at her vampire brides... well they'd have broken the way through!"

"I ah... don't quite understand." Nemu stated uncomfortably.

Goan bunched up his fists and punched down, throwing his hands at his sides, his eyes shut as if in sleep and he shouted, "She died because she was too weak!"

"She died because she wasn't strong enough and now I'm alone!" He took a deep breath after shouting that and wiped his eyes clean, "Look, I know... I know that because of everything, the Sorcerer King'll take care of everything. My 'future' is set, but one thing I took from my mother whether she knew she was telling me or not, is that my future isn't here, it's out there, somewhere, and from what I've picked up while going to study under Sebas and Cocytus, they all feel the same. But I can't be weak when I go out there! I don't want to end up like she did!"

He was breathing hard after the rant, and all his friends could do was shuffle awkwardly. "So instead of going home, I've been going to the training grounds here, they still have some instructors, I go every week to Nazarick, and the rest of the time I go learn everything I can from the same soldiers that General Baraja provided to General Enri to train 'her' army. After I've finished the required schooling I'll apply for the Arena Adventurer program, and I'll start traveling around to learn from everyone I can. I even wrote a letter to General Baraja asking for her help. That is what I have been doing, if you really have to know, I haven't been avoiding you two... You're... well it's like having sisters... ah... but what else am I going to do?" he relaxed his fists into open hands and slumped a little. "Sorry for worrying you, I didn't mean to."

"Want to tell him? Or should I?" Nemu asked reluctantly as she glanced over at Kuuderika.

Kuuderika smacked her lips a few times and then whispered hesitantly, "No, I'll do it." She did her best to keep the reluctance from her voice, but it was impossible.

"Tell me 'what' exactly?" Goan asked with hesitation, as he took a few small steps closer to the pair.

**AN: Well I realize this has been awhile. God Rising has taken up a lot of time, chiefly because I didn't want Moira's death revealed HERE before it was revealed THERE. Much effort went into this chapter, as probably the most impactful criticism once said: No tears for the author, no tears for the reader. Astute point which I will not forget, so I worked on this until I felt something. I think it came out pretty well and the beta readers loved it. I'm on a break from GR for a bit to get my energy back. **

**Some NEWS though... The audio project has kicked off, I did an audio reading of the first chapter of GR and it came out pretty well. I'll be doing all the stories over time. The pace will pick up when I've actually 'finished' the entire thing. The Yutoob (censor based misspelling) channel is entitled 'Telling Stories'. **

**ALSO...Chapter six of 'Scales of Trust' is up on my patr30n. A sample of the latest chapter is below, you can find the full story as it comes out, at /tellingstories if you want to support it. Or read it for free on discord. But at 300 $10 patrons I can write full time. (Or 3,000 $1 patrons, you're adults, you can do the math. ;) )**

_What was I next to that? They were all I had, and with most of them gone... well, now here you are, my folly can be made right, and I can then rest easy at last." Ayente replied with a sadly tranquil voice as she laid her hand on his thick, hard scales._

_Archos cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and looked away from her shining, devoted gaze, over to where the tribe was starting to awaken. "Come, we have much to do."_

_"Of course, but... what?" She asked, snapped out of her awed reverie._

_"We must get you all ready for war." Archos said and bared his teeth with the anticipation that only a predator may feel._


	8. Turning of the Wheel

Chapter 8: Turning of the Wheel

_...City of Carne Village..._

"You remember when we had our talents assessed?" Kuuderika asked patiently.

"Of course, the class had quite a set of them, they came back and said Carne had more talents in our small classes than anywhere else. Lord Demiurge was saying he wanted to figure out 'why' that was, after the war ended. Why?" Goan asked, furrowing his brow as Kuuderika tried to get out whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Well, yes, it turns out I have some of the same power as my older sister did and... of course that means a spot is open for me at the academy. Also, my assessments were all top tier on academics, so I'm being advanced ahead, which means that I'll be leaving. I don't have a class date but... if I were to put a guess, probably not long after the Synod. I'll be going to E-Rantel for three years, fostered out to the governor, probably Leinas Rockbruise, assuming she lives through the war and takes over her old post." Kuuderika said, not really meeting his eyes, and looking more than a little saddened.

"Oh... but that's... that's great!" Goan said with faux enthusiasm, "I'm really happy for you! Nemu and I will miss you of course, but we can..." Kuuderika interrupted him with a raising of her hand.

"Stop, that's not all." Kuuderika said urgently, "Nemu will be leaving too, she got a letter from her mo- I mean, her big sister. Her talents put her on military or adventuring track, you know how good she is with throwing weapons and whatnot..." Nemu could not keep from preening, closing her eyes somewhat smugly against the sense of gravity the moment held. "Well, she's been accepted to another school, one being established by some of the resettled elves over the eastern half of the Draconic Kingdom. From there, well the school letter said they intended senior students to go to Crescent Lake... assuming the war ends and things settle down."

"What will you be learning?" Goan asked, furrowing his brow enough that it kept the tears at bay.

Nemu spoke up, her words and tone were gentle, soft, a little sad, but also filled with optimism and enthusiasm, she snatched up Goan's hand as she talked to him, and held it tight. "It's a ranger school, I'll probably be the only human, but my guardian is General Enri so... I don't think that'll be a problem. I'll be gone for about three years. Four if I also go to Crescent Lake and make it to the mastery stage and everything goes well. Maybe I'll even become a shadow walker, or a ninja."

"That's wonderful, really. I'm going to miss you both very much." He said solemnly as he bottled up his emotions and put on a brave face, giving them a weak smile as his typical even demeanor came close to cracking.

"Well, it isn't going to be for a while though!" Nemu added hastily, "We just have to make the most of what time we've got left!"

Goan looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "You just described 'life' you do realize that, right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah I guess, but it's still true!" She held her arm out and raised her finger as she made her point. "So this is the deal little brother, no more sneaking away without us like you've been doing the last few weeks, we work together, a team. The three... ah... shit there's got to be a word for this." She trailed off as she ran out of steam.

"Screw it." Kuuderika said suddenly and pulled the both of them into a hug with a giant smile shining on her face.

"Yeah, that'll do." Goan said calmly, his face twitching only slightly, a wave of relief washed over him that they couldn't see his expression.

They did exactly as Nemu proposed, filling their days with school, martial training, and simple enjoyment.

So the days passed and the nights passed, the war ended and Enri returned.

The day the war ended, everybody knew it, the demon messengers swarmed over towns and villages, hovering over cities, shouting that the Slane Theocracy's last surviving Cardinal had surrendered officially, the demonic voices, far from alarm, had generated the greatest excitement in generations.

Goan looked out of the window of his room, howls of glee shook the skies and earth of the City of Carne Village, people were dancing in the streets, impromptu musicians struck up their instruments, taverns that were closed, flung open their doors and the liquor flowed freely in the streets. From where he was, he saw a soldier in armor who, along with a woman beside him, had frozen to listen to the proclamation, take her in his arms and bend her back, he kissed her passionately and her arms went round his neck as it was returned. Shouts of glee were plentiful and powerful and seemingly without end.

But many also were the tears of unbridled happiness that swept the streets, along with tears from those who had lost someone, or those who were relieved that they had not. But to those looking on, the different tears were indistinguishable from one another.

The banners of the Sorcerous Kingdom were held aloft by common men and elves and dwarves and orcs and goblins and those who bore them carried them at a run through the streets with unrestrained common happiness. What Goan did not know...

Was that this was happening in E-Rantel... where the people who a few years before had lived in terror of their dread master, celebrated the glorious achievements of their citizens, alongside what had been fearful foes, dwarves and elves toasted the glories of their mutual contributions and out of a hundred buildings, the banner of His Majesty was draped with the greatest reverence.

In the Baharuth Empire's capital of Arwintar, the Emperor proclaimed an instant holiday, offered to pay for drinks for the entire city. The city ran dry within a few hours.

"I can't believe it... I simply can't believe it." Emperor Jircniv said as he took a long draught from his cup and passed another to his Empress.

"My love, you've known this was coming since before the war began." She said with an amused look on her face, as if she didn't believe that he didn't believe it.

"I know, but it doesn't seem real, like this whole war has dragged on for a lifetime... and now, in one hour, it's all over? Just like that? Philip is a prisoner, Astraka is a prisoner, Remedios is dead, Suchala is dead, Boabdil is a prisoner, the Elf King is dead, Dominic, Yvon, Berenice, Ginedine, Maximillian, & Necran, are all dead and Raymond has surrendered? What has it been? Fourteen months? And the whole world has been turned on its head? The elves have a new Queen, Zanac is King of Re-Estize, Calca is returned to the throne, Draudillon & Rargnan will be integrating into the Sorcerous Kingdom, Calca won't be far behind, and that is if she doesn't go first. Re-Estize might as well have already done so, it's just a formality now. The Dark Dwarves and Dark Elves have both submitted, the only one to not fall into line has been Argland, and I do not envy that 'unique status'" He remarked with breathless awe as he reevaluated the world he knew.

"We will all be better for it, that I'm sure of." The empress said confidently as she took a long drink.

"Me too. That is why I don't envy them." Emperor Jircniv said and raised his cup, "Here's to you, my bloody rival, and finest friend."

_...City of Carne Village...A Month after the Surrender..._

The drums were matched by the steady marching feet of the Army of Carne, so these were the first sounds that were heard, thunderous and long, but they were not the last noises to tell the city their heroes had come home. Soon the fifes could be heard, matching the beat of the drums as the military band played on and on to set the rhythm of march.

At the front of the column rode two figures, where there had been three before. Enri looked to her left, where an empty horse rode beside her. "You alright -su?" Lupusregina asked patiently.

Enri nodded. "I'm alright, just thinking he should have been here for this, he was the instructor who taught myself, Zesshi, Zaryusu, and even Neia, the art of war. And yet... he's gone. Sun is gone and I'll never get him back."

"That's what war is, lots and lots of permanent goodbyes." Lupusregina said gravely, then reached out to touch the shoulder of the striking blonde general.

Enri looked over at her best friend, the werewolf queen who had been her guardian, her advisor, her occasional mild tormentor, and her savior, and didn't see the usual malice. "Want some advice, -su?" Lupusregina asked.

She didn't wait for Enri to answer, "Just be proud of him, and of yourself, you won. The war is over, there are children waiting to welcome you, show the brave face that fought on the front lines, and just don't forget what it took to bring you and everyone still here, home alive."

Enri nodded and her back went a little straighter, she smiled over at Lupusregina, radiantly, the way she always did, "I can do that, there will be time to mourn the dead, but first let's celebrate the living, I want to get good and drunk tonight and make my husband regret that he has only one cock." She winked at the sudden bawdiness of her humor.

Lupusregina shrank back in faux shock, "Oh my goodness, you're asking me to join you to help support his efforts! How lewd!"

She winked, and all Enri could do was throw back her head and laugh as they neared the gates. She didn't look to her left again as they rode through the streets, people lined the streets, hung out of windows, and cheered as the army marched in perfect rhythm all the way through to the grand arena, where their journey had begun so long before. As she went under the massive arches, she thought back to her conversation there with the Sorcerer King, and her answer to him then when he had asked her if she saw him as a god.

'Majesty, my answer has still not changed, you are god enough for me, in being a great king, a great inspiration, and a great father to your many peoples... I have worked your will out of faith in you, no matter what your title. Now it is done, and yet I know, it has also only just begun, as I prepare to return to see to the rebuilding of a broken land, in your image.' As the army formed up behind her, she dismounted from her horse and walked under the eyes of thousands, to the platform from which she would speak.

She stood where His Majesty had stood before, and felt the sudden crushing weight of unlimited responsibility on her as if there was a mountain forcing her down. Her breath quickened as she looked out over the sea of faces, 'What words can I offer...?' She wondered as her intended speech entirely fled her mind.

Lupusregina, at her right hand, leaned in closely as silence began to fall and whispered, "You have faced armies, and you have faced the incarnation of terror."

Her heartbeat calmed at the endorsement as Lupusregina straightened herself up again.

Clad in white armor and a black cape emblazoned with the Sorcerous Kingdom's symbol, with an adamantite sword at her side and her blonde hair aglow in the light, the peasant general was an inspiring figure. She placed her hands gently on the podium, and addressed the masses.

"Over one year ago, we departed from this spot, when the Slane Theocracy and their allies dared to challenge our Lord. "Come and face us if you dare, they said to us, threatening us with the wrath of their gods if we did so. So... We came! We saw! We conquered! In the name of His Majesty! In the name of His Peace! In the name of His Justice! The old ways are over. While there is still work to be done, wounds to be healed, and wounds of loss that will never heal fully," she paused and let that sink in for a moment, and through the silence came the occasional broken wail, before she continued, "the great threat is passed. We are now on the path to one empire, one great state where all of us can freely go anywhere, live anywhere, be anything, no matter who or what we are! Though many were lost, none were lost for nothing. The blood they shed in the field has given us a wonderful harvest, a new world, a better world, and it is our world, under our god, so it is today, and so it will always be! So I say to you, people of Carne, people of the Sorcerous EMPIRE... In His Majesty's name, and FOR His Majesty's glory and justice... WELL DONE!"

Cheers that seemed like they would never die echoed around the stadium, but as she fell silent, all Enri really felt was relief, a relief that the worst was over, even if the hardest wasn't.

'You should have been here for this, Moira. Sun. So many others... but it is done. And I'll look after everything for you, as best I can.' Enri thought to herself, and the sun pierced through a gap in the cloud, and illuminated her all the more brightly for a moment, before she and her bodyguard left the stage.

"She's magnificent, isn't she?" Nemu said proudly from the box seats she shared with Kuuderika and Goan.

"She is, she really is. I hope I can speak like that when I get to be her age." Kuuderika answered, while Goan nodded with solemn appreciation from the silver rail he leaned partially over to see better. From behind him, she noticed something unexpected, 'He's getting taller... I wonder if that has to do with the blessing he was given?'

She couldn't see his smile, but she saw Nemu's, and realized she was thinking the same, but as the speech hit its climax, as if some limit on his mind had briefly broken under the weight of the emotion of the moment, he pumped his fist and shouted his enthusiasm with the crowd. For a moment, as they stood back and watched, it seemed as if he were changing, no longer looking at a boy, but a tall and strongly built man who never lost his boyish nature even beneath a serious gaze.

Then the moment was gone, and he was himself again as they knew him, but the moment of vision stayed with them all the way home, where the trio waited to greet the hero General.

It was not a disappointment. N'firea stood at the entrance of their home, wearing the clothes he always wore, the dirty apron, the practical garment, but he'd cut his hair, so that she could clearly see his face.

In front of him, he held the left and right shoulders of the two girls, Nemu and Kuuderika, who stood in front of him as if he were their own father. Up the long dirt path, she waved from a distance, along with, surprisingly enough, the red haired smiling monster that was essentially their aunt. Off to one side, Goan sat patiently against a tree, his face serious as she remembered, and his nature standoffish as ever, but the fact that he was present at all was not lost on her.

Enri made it halfway up the path before the girls broke free of N'frea's hands without any effort, and he held his hand behind his head and rubbed sheepishly as they charged full tilt and leaped headlong into Enri's arms, unable to suppress their happiness at her return even one moment more.

"You're home!" They said as they all but knocked her to the ground with the impact that was almost as hard as a battlefield charge, and Enri would have fallen, had not Lupusregina quietly extended her hand behind her companion's back and held her up.

They kissed her left and right cheeks and squeezed her tight as if fearing she might vanish once again.

"Yes, I'm home, I'm home..." Enri said and then all unexpectedly, she began to cry as she said it, happy tears poured out like a waterfall as she squeezed them hard enough to draw 'oofs' from their lips before she released her grip. "I've gotten a little stronger, too." She said with a grin as she set the two down.

As she went up the path, she turned aside before reaching her husband, and went to where Goan stood, she knelt down in front of him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm... I'm so sorry about your mother. I didn't know that Moira had volunteered for that mission, if I had, I would have stopped her, but she went down a hero, and saved many, many lives by getting that gate open. Listen... I have no idea how you feel about this, and if you say no... I'll understand. But... would you like to live with us? I won't pretend I can replace her, nobody can simply replace a mother, especially one like her. But... I'll give you the best life I can. I'll have space enough, we're to get a manor here, and... from the brief time I knew her, I know she would have wanted the best for you."

Goan was silent, his piercing eyes held hers, reminding her of those of the lord who blessed him before his birth, or worse, the eyes of Neia Baraja, for whom they had just coined the word 'terroreyes'. Yet she felt no anger from him as he quietly nodded. "My fosters are... alright. But... I want to be with my friends, if I can be. And you don't have to feel bad about her, she volunteered for that, she didn't have her life taken away, she gave it up, for my sake, to set an example of loyalty and honor that I will spend my life trying to equal. I'd give anything to have her back, but this was her choice, and I know missing me was her only regret, that will do. I just came to tell you..." His lip quivered a bit, but he restored control quickly and went on, "Not to feel bad about her, you didn't kill her, you didn't make her go, you didn't make her volunteer. I'll be alright. Especially as long as I have my friends." He said with words that held a tremble beneath their calm exterior, and a trembling lip he could only intermittently control as it came and went from one moment to the next.

"Then... welcome to our home; we'll pick up where she left off. We'll honor her and all the dead who didn't make it this far, to make sure none of them gave their lives in vain." Enri said, standing up. She stepped away and approached N'firea, who fell into her arms with an embrace tighter than she thought him capable of, he kissed her with shameless passion as his turn finally came, and Lupusregina took over with the three young ones at Enri's back.

"C'mon, lets go get some food to celebrate." Lupusregina said to the three, "Give them some grown up time." She had a lascivious grin on her face as she spoke just a little louder than she needed to, but this time...

This time... Enri didn't blush, as she broke the kiss with her husband and whispered into his ear...

"I want a baby... now."

He didn't blush either, as he pulled her through the door behind him.

**AN: Well here we go, this one has only a few chapters left, then it is on to 'Acting in Good Faith' and I'll have finished them all.**

**Beyond that, I 'MAY' do 'A Theocracy Half Elf in King Ainz's Court' about Zesshi's time in Nazarick after turning against her country.**

**I've also got an Overlord x Berserk crossover featuring the GR version of Neia ending up in Midland while on the march to Kami Miyako. Kind of a buddy cop style relationship between her and Guts.**

**May or may not do to completion, it's just a one off for the hell of it.**

**And of course... there's 'Scales of Trust' which you can find on my Discord and on my Patr30n. (The crossover is also on discord)**

**Invite code on the author page. Hope you've enjoyed this so far, and regardless of whether I write more overlord later, it's been a blast!**


	9. Emptying the Nest

Bone Daddy's Daughters

Written by: AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 9: Emptying the Nest

_...City of Carne Village..._

So the days slipped past, and children grew up, as children tend to do, and children were born, as children tend to be, and the world changed, as the world always does...

_...Two years after the Synod...Manor of the Governor..._

"I know I wasn't there... but dear, was it really that bad?" N'firea said as a servant filled his cup with wine.

Enri nodded with a grave expression. "It was... if it weren't, then Neia wouldn't have been arrested for war crimes, I... may or may not have created a rift with our Lord between he and I that may not recover, at least not as it was." She said somewhat sadly, "But I had to push the matter, she went too far, people who were just like us, died out there that didn't have to. Someone had to answer for that, I couldn't stop. But I do feel bad about it, strangely enough, I think the Pope understands why I did it... it would be easier if I still disliked her, but now? I find I pity her, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't understand."

"But she's a hero... isn't she?" Goan asked as he looked over at her and dipped his bread into the stew. He didn't have to look up to meet her eyes, he was now almost as tall as she, despite his youth.

Nemu shook her head, "A hero? She took my big sister by the throat... I don't care how distressed or distraught or damaged she was... I can't let go of that. Even if she didn't squeeze."

Kuuderika brushed her waist length blonde hair back, "I actually get it... I have forgotten a lot of things. I don't remember what my father or mother looked like, but I remember living on the streets of Arwintar. I remember how I was conditioned to respond with rage if I wanted to survive, violence was the only way a girl like me had a chance if I didn't want worse things to happen... so... if it was like that for her... maybe."

"On a happier note, sort of... have you chosen your courses for when you leave?" Enri asked optimistically, putting a smile on her face as the topic changed, but before the girls could answer, a reedy wail came from not far away, and an elven maid approached. "My lady... the baby..." She said with a bow that Enri neither required nor cared about, but long habit had ingrained in the servant.

Enri stood up from the table, "Of course, I hear him, excuse me everybody, somebody else wants dinner." She smiled and went to nurse her first born son.

_...A year later..._

"Go on... have fun." Lupusregina said with a mischievous smirk and shoved Goan forward from where he stood, and at her 'insistent' gesture, he approached Enri's younger sister.

Goan bowed politely to Nemu in the great hall of the governor's manor, "May I have this dance?" He asked as the stringed instruments began to play.

Nemu's fierce eyes softened, and she rose from the table, her rich dress of cream white and ink black, with half on one side and half on another, pressed against him. As his arm went around her waist and her hand folded into his, she craned her head back to look up at the young man, his dark eyes set many a person off, as did his white hair which was now bound in a single knot and hanging behind his head. He was, like her, alone at the ball, despite being occasionally approached, and like her, he preferred it that way.

But together, they could dance, so they moved to the center and began to spin slowly to the music. "Not long now, is it?" He asked her.

"No, not long at all, I'm going to miss you, though." She said with a kind voice that was much more like her early childhood one than the serious tone she usually held in her adolescence.

Goan flashed a rare, but winning smile, "The same, I'll miss you both, I couldn't have found better friends if I searched the entire world."

"That reminds me," Nemu said with a tiny pout on her small, thin lips. "Why didn't you ever try anything, I mean you're a boy, right? But no peeping, no flirting, nothing."

Goan winked teasingly, "What makes you think there was no peeping? Maybe I did and just didn't get caught." He laughed a soft, deep voiced laugh.

Nemu stepped on his foot, hard, and glared at him until he laughed again. "I kid, I kid, I never did, because you're like sisters, family. And I didn't want to risk ruining that."

"So... you're saying you actually did fear something, well wait till I tell Kuuderika." Nemu said with a wink of her own... that vanished when Goan stepped on her foot.

"OK, I had that one coming." She conceded with a pout, "But still."

"Still what? Don't I get a spin?" Kuuderika said as the music faded and she approached the pair, her dress was the mirror of Nemu's, black where Nemu's was white, and white where Nemu's was black.

Nemu stepped away, "Please do, I have a foot to nurse thanks to the oaf." She gave him a mock glare as she jerked her thumb at the sheepish looking Goan who rubbed the back of his head as if caught standing over a broken vase.

Kuuderika rolled her eyes and took her place in the arms of the young man. Her blonde hair now nearly waist length, it hung free and moved with their bodies as the next song picked up. "So do you think things will go well?" She asked as they moved in a slow step to the rhythm.

"For you? Of course." Goan said confidently as he looked down at her. "You'll do great things at the magic academy, of that I'm sure."

Kuuderika's wide smile lit up the space between them, "Always an encouraging word for me, eh?"

"Like I'd ever offer anything else?" He replied with bold certainty, "Don't worry, I'll look out for Enri. At least till I leave."

"When do you go, have you got a date for it yet?" Kuuderika asked with a smile that, while favorable, was also a little sad as she thought of the three of them going their own ways.

"I leave for the first arena course in six months. I'll be in Arwintar... hard to believe. Me in Baharuth, you in E-Rantel, Nemu in Crescent Lake... not how I saw my life going when I got here... but I'm not complaining."

"Well I'd better hear about a new arena combatant lighting the crowd on fire, or I'm going to be very disappointed in you." Kuuderika said, mockingly breaking the hold on her hand long enough to jab her forefinger into his chest, before allowing him to take her hand again.

She smirked cockily, as Goan replied, "I plan to, but it may be a bit before they let me in the arena itself, and remember, this is the adventurer track I'm on, it isn't all arena combat, I'll be learning all kinds of nonarena stuff too."

"Still, if you lose a match to some unworthy bastard, I'll never forgive you." Kuuderika said as the music slowed to a halt, and they broke apart from one another's hands.

_...Parting Day..._

N'firea held his son at chest level while his pregnant wife stood beside him. Nemu and Kuuderika were at the door of their home. The party was over, the guests were gone, and Lupusregina was leaning casually against the wall with her arms folded and waiting in expectation. Two large packs sat on either side of her.

Goan approached the two and looked down at their faces, Nemu's rich auburn hair hung below her shoulders, and her rounded face was angelic for all but a somewhat hardened look that had taken root in her eyes under the years of steadily tutelage provided by 'Auntie Lupu'.

"Here, Lupusregina helped me pick it out." He said, and held out a smooth leather belt.

She held it up and then her eyes went wide. "What the...?" It was immediately obvious that it wasn't an ordinary belt, instead it was a belt for blades of various sizes and types.

"They pair with the blades." Lupusregina explained, then smoothly opened one of the pouches, drew the blade, and threw it hard enough to embed itself in the wall. Their eyes tracked the motion instinctively. "Now wait." She said calmly.

Seconds ticked past... and then the blade was gone from the wall, and back in the pocket of the pouch. "They're double enchants, some with poison, some with sharpness, but they all have a minor teleport enchantment that returns them to the pouch after a half a minute. The pouch itself is enchanted for both sturdiness and a repair function. But..." She raised her finger sharply and her savage eyes went firm and stern, "I still expect my student to sharpen her blades on her own, daily, am I clear? -su?" She asked proudly.

"I... wow... yes, oh by Ainz's bones, thank you!" Nemu said and hugged them both enthusiastically.

"As for us..." Enri grinned in spite of the welling sadness in her heart. "N'firea has put your name on the potion provision list, he asked it of Lord Ainz himself, so now you can draw potions for use without cost... within reason, whenever you need to. And as for me..." The governor looked to one side, and an elf maid entered.

Nemu's eyes went wide as the black armor was presented, "My duelist armor from my days in the Army of Carne... take it with my blessing, may it protect you as it protected me. I never got much use out of it thanks to Lupu and the fact that I stayed out of the fight, but all the commanders other than Neia got it. It'll serve you well in training."

Nemu immediately took it from the elven servant and put it on over her head and relaxed as it fitted itself to her form, mildly annoyed when it shrank a bit more in the chest than it had to for her big sister.

"Th-Thank you..." She said as she donned the armor and the belt went around her waist. She embraced them all as tightly as she could, her eyes welling up briefly, but a genuine smile on her face as she went from one to the other.

"I'll miss you all, but it's only a few years, I'll be home before you know it." She stepped back, and the gate opened.

"See you soon." Enri said weakly, and the courtesy gate they were provided was opened.

Lupusregina picked up the pack and threw it on her back with casual ease, "I'll be back soon, I'll just get this one settled in, and we'll get Kuuderika out of here too. -su" She let her sadistic grin slip just a little, but if anybody noticed her enjoyment of the moment, they were too well used to it to think it merited comment.

While she was gone, N'firea spoke up, "I'm pretty imaginative with potions... but not much else... so I hope you'll forgive me for giving you the same thing as I did Nemu. I mean... you're both like daughters to me, and you're both going to be working hard and..." His statement was cut off by the sudden embrace of the blonde sylvan shaped Kuuderika, she threw her arms around his neck and said, "I couldn't ask for better than those words but... I'm thankful for the potions too... dad." She said as she stepped back after kissing his cheek.

Enri held out a book, it was thin, having by all appearances only about fifty pages. Kuuderika took it in both hands with great reverence nonetheless. She read the title aloud, "Endless?" She looked with a cockeyed expression at Enri.

"Flip to the last page." Enri said with a knowing smile, her lips curled only the slightest amount at their ends.

Kuuderika flipped to what she thought was the last page... and found another... and another, and another... and another and another and another... no matter how fast she flipped there was always one more page.

"It isn't really endless." Enri explained, "It seems to stop after about fifty thousand pages... It was a failed experiment of His Majesty, Lupu mentioned it to me when we were talking gifts, and I was able to get it for you. It won't do what it was meant to do, which is be an entire library of all knowledge in one text. But... it should hold a lifetime's worth of spells. I hope you like it." Enri's voice was enthusiastic but, her foot shifted the smallest inch, revealing to Goan's eye at least, some hint of insecurity.

"I couldn't ask for anything better, you've been... you've been a better mother than the one who ruined my life... because you... all of you, gave me a real chance at one... I'm so grateful. Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!" Kuuderika embraced N'firea and Enri as tightly as she could, leaving wet stains on both their cheeks as she brought them close against herself.

It was the longest hug of her life up to that point, and she only reluctantly broke it, and then only because...

True to her word, Lupusregina returned, snatched up Kuuderika's pack, and with a grin said, "You're next!" Her finger pointed sharply, and were she unfamiliar with her defacto aunt's sadistic smile, she felt sure she would have shuddered in fear. As it was, Kuuderika only grinned in return.

"One second." She said to Lupusregina, and went and hugged the white haired boy she'd watched grow disturbingly tall, disturbingly fast.

"I couldn't have asked for a better pair of companions than the two of you." Goan remarked, "And... I'll miss you a lot, I'll write to you after my first win."

She nodded and standing on the tips of her toes, he still had to lower his face to let her kiss his cheek. "That's the rule then, you only get to write a letter to me, or Nemu, when you win. So if you want to write a lot, win a lot!"

"Deal, Kuukuu." He smirked a little, his lip curling as she glared at him.

"I... don't think I like that nickname, and great, now I'm out of time to argue and I don't have a comeback. Damn it." She stamped her foot atop his, and after one last laugh shared between the two, she turned and walked through the [Gate] as soon as it opened, and was gone as well.

Goan looked down at the couple... "Ah... so... I know this might not be the best time and all but..." His stomach growled loudly, and the pale faced and serious expression broke for a moment to look a little sheepish. "Yeah... that."

It was a good enough distraction to merit a few faltered smiles as Enri called out for a servant to begin preparing food, and life went on as it had, or very nearly, the way life always does, when children begin to leave.


	10. Farewells & Hellows

Bone Daddy's Daughters

Written by: AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 10: Farewells and Hellos

_...Magic Academy of E-Rantel..._

Kuuderika looked around, the halls were long and wide, seemingly endless, everything seemed gigantic.

The wide stairs were smooth and polished, and ascended levels higher than anything she'd seen since childhood, dwarfing even her fading memories of her childhood estate. People moved about in an almost cattle like mass as students with parents and guardians went to and fro. Books and scrolls made abundant noise, the shuffling of papers and the noise of questioning voices was everywhere.

Lupusregina stood at her left hand, "You ready for this? -su" She asked with a sadistic smile.

"I've been ready for this for a long time now." Kuuderika said with breathless anticipation as she walked without trepidation toward her destination. Lupusregina didn't second guess the sylvan girl as they made their way through the chaos to a line in front of a series of booths.

"Someone gives you trouble while you're here... summon Auntie Lupu, I need new playthings. -su" The redheaded sadist said with a wide toothy smile and clapped her hands together, rubbing her palms vigorously up and down in anticipation.

"Never change, auntie Lupu, never change." Kuuderika grinned.

"Never plan to. -su" Lupusregina replied with the naturally sinister undertone that she undertook when on watch for potential threats to her charges.

Kuuderika looked around, despite the area being quite crowded, it seemed that people were naturally giving her escort a wide berth, as if noticing her as a threat without consciously realizing it. It gave Kuuderika a comfortable amount of space for herself in line as it diminished.

"Kuuderika... Emmott-Bareare." She said to the goblin who sat on the other side, grinning as she gave the name she'd registered under.

He did a double take at her when he heard the last name, but true to his professionalism, he stamped a document and slid a key over to her. "Your room, second building outside to the left of this one. Here is your schedule for classes. Study hard."

"I plan to!" She said, and held up the key in front of her for Lupusregina to see, an infectious smile on her face.

The few who heard her, did double takes of their own as they appraised the well-dressed adopted daughter of two famous names gliding over the stone floor with the grace of a dancer on stage.

Lupusregina was beside her the entire way, "Looks like you're coming in with a reputation." The maid said neutrally.

Kuuderika shrugged, "One I didn't earn. Not yet. It just means I have a lot to live up to, not that I've done anything to merit it yet."

"That's a start. -su" Lupusregina replied favorably.

"It is hard to be arrogant, after standing before His Majesty." She said truthfully.

"Also the right attitude. -su" Lupusregina said with further praise in her voice.

They made their way out onto the grounds, large open grasses with occasional trees dotted the area before the great academy, a stone walkway with smoothly connected individual stones ran from the entrance down a row of buildings, each one labeled with a number etched in stone. The buildings were a mix of stone base with wooden finish for the upper floors. With hers so close, only a minute or two was all it took, the interior had dark wooden floors, and the great open area with a few furnishings scattered about for guest and common seating, broke off into several long hallways, each of which was given a numeric sequence identifying what numbers were where.

Kuuderika went to her room, stuck the key in, turned it, and walked in. A small open living area had a couch, a shelf, two chairs, and a table with three stools around it. On the couch sat a young orc woman, and on one of the stools, sat a bearded dark dwarf.

"Hi." Kuuderika said with a friendly wave, "Guess we're going to be roommates. She smiled enthusiastically as they looked at her unexpectedly.

The dwarf was the first to speak. "Neela." She said, "Come on in, make yourself at home, that's what it is after all, for the next few years."

"Korga." The orc woman said gruffly, "Welcome to the academy."

Lupusregina flopped Kuuderika's pack down next to her and then pointed at the young girl she'd taught to fight. "Alright, I've got to be off, you work hard, make sure you were worthy of His Majesty's kindness, I'll be looking in on you now and then. -su"

"Thanks for everything Aunt Lupu, really... I wouldn't be who I am now, without you." She winked, and a hard spark in Kuuderika's own eyes was reflected back at her.

That made the beautiful redhead wink with a playful smile of her own, and the gate opened behind her a moment later, and she was gone.

Kuuderika's roommates gaped openly from behind her. "What the hell was that and who the hell are you...?" Neela asked with sudden awe.

'I probably should have asked her to do that outside the room... damn. Well it was never going to be a secret forever, and it is a helluva story so...' She thought and mentally shrugged it off with resignation as she turned to explain herself to her new roommates.

_...Later at Crescent Lake..._

Nemu walked with catlike grace beside her mentor, the woman she knew was a monster within, and to whom she looked up to with a savage zealousness. "You seem even more eager than Kuuderika was." Lupusregina remarked to the girl at her side.

Nemu grinned. "Course, aunt Lupu! How couldn't I be? Here, I get to learn to be more like you."

"That is a lofty goal. -su" Lupusregina said with a cocky grin and in an exaggerated gesture, folded her fingers into her palm, blew on them, and then made to wipe them on her chest.

Nemu grinned as she took in her surroundings, trees she expected, growing up near the Great forest of Tob, that wouldn't disconcert her at all, but the impressive thing of it was just how 'big' the trees were. They reached up as if to challenge the sky, and the long branches connected to one another, making for enormous skyways over which students walked.

"No rails." Nemu said thoughtfully.

"So don't fall." Lupusregina said dismissively.

"That's a short lesson." Nemu answered flatly.

Lupusregina made the noise of a long, arcing whistle, and holding her finger up to point at a skyway over which the students walked, she traced her finger down to the ground, then cut the whistle off and curled the finger into her fist. "Seems long. -su" She laughed, and a half second later, Nemu joined her in it.

"Alright, alright, I get the point auntie, I will be careful." Nemu gave the werewolf girl a toothy grin.

"Good, fall down, and I swear I'll give your skeleton to Lady Shalltear. -su" Lupusregina grinned as Nemu blushed a deep cherry red.

"Nooooo, not that, god knows what she'd do with it! No, wait, I do know!" She shuddered.

Lupusregina slapped the slender woman on the back, and they walked over the great open grounds to an enormous tree with a great wide double door carved out in front of it. Most of the students were elves, which made the 'two' humans stand out, but dressed in expensive armor that clearly belonged to a high ranking soldier in the Sorcerous Empire, the looks were more curious than anything else.

"Tell you what..." Nemu said, "Why don't you give me the pack, I'll handle this myself. You've done more than anyone could ever ask of you... and I need to stand on my own. Today is a good start for that. I'll only be here for a day until Queen Zesshi gets back, after that I'll be staying with her while I go to school here. I'm sure I can manage."

Lupusregina paused midstep and looked at the girl before her, her deep cherrywood colored hair hung down behind a feminine waist that bore the curves of womanhood, her face, described by CZ as simply 'cute' in childhood, was now that of a fresh faced adult in the flower of youth, a few freckles on her cheeks like the finishing touches of an artist completing a masterwork, and the glint of stubbornness in her eyes told Lupusregina of the fire that burned within. The anger over the loss of people she now barely remembered, except to know they'd died for her, and loved her.

Lupusregina took the heavy pack off her back and handed it solemnly over to Nemu, who threw it on with practiced ease and strength that was greater than one would think her slender form would allow for. "You've... grown up. I'm proud of you." Lupusregina said quietly.

"Thank you. If you're proud of me, it's because you made me someone worth being proud of. I won't fail you." Nemu said, and then impulsively reached out and hugged the werewolf queen.

When the embrace broke, Lupusregina grinned toothily, "Nobody squeezed me that tight since that time your big sister rode me."

Nemu blushed all over again as Lupusregina laughed, "Ask her about it. -su."

"Ah... no, no I don't think I'll do that." Nemu laughed lightly at the ever lewd battle maid.

"Suit yourself. -su" Lupusregina said and kept smiling as the gate opened behind her. "Now remember what I taught you, and you'll do great things one day, worthy of your name, but most of all, worthy of our master."

"May he forever reign." Nemu said with a fierce devotion, as Lupusregina walked into the gate and left the young woman to her own devices.

_...Six Months Later..._

Goan stood not at the same door where the only sisters he'd ever known had been when they left, but rather at the little cottage of his mother. A garden grew over where her body lay, and he stood at the base of it and looked at her headstone.

Behind him stood Enri, N'firea, Lupusregina, Sebas, and Cocytus. In his hand, he held a white rose, and he was dressed in the battle attire of a Black Justice heavy infantry, a Black Paladin. A gift of the Sorcerer King, requested by Enri, designed by Neia, paid for by the King, and made by a combined work of magicine wielding, dark dwarves and the runecraft of their northern cousins. Made of iron or steel it would have been a solid eighty pounds of weight, but as it was, he felt naked, so light was his equipment. A red chain was etched around the edge of his torso, in the center a human skull was almost imperceptibly present, the color only slightly grayer than the black armor itself.

"Well mom... it's time for me to go. I've... well... I guess not quite grown up, but grown up enough to leave." He ran his fingers through his now close cropped white hair. A style the Sorcerer King once referred to as a 'buzz cut'. Though he had no idea why.

He took a deep breath, "There's a lot to say, and I don't even know if you can hear this, maybe you can. I hope so. I've made great friends, I've had a good life, His Majesty saw to my education, so did most of the residents of Nazarick in one way or another. Lord Cocytus taught me everything I know about swords and spears. Sebas Tian taught me everything my thick skull could absorb about the use of Ki. Lupusregina taught me everything I know about hunting and tracking. And of course, Enri and N'firea filled in for you as parents. I don't think I'm comfortable telling you what I learned from Lady Albedo or Lady Shalltear. So I'll just keep that to myself."

He let out a bitter laugh. "You should have been here, I never said this to you before... but I hated that you left, I resented you for it, I wanted to tell you off when you went and left me behind, I was angry at you for leaving, angry at you for dying, even though I knew why you did it. I'm... not angry at you for it anymore, all that's left is the fact that I remember you, and I love you, and I'll never forget you. This place will be looked after, you'll rest easy here, and I'll come back when I can, one day. So please... if you are somewhere else beyond this life, rest easy when you rest, and cheer me on the rest of the time. I'll carry on, I'll be a better man than my blood father was, I'll only run away to save a life, I'll never live in fear, and I'll live a life worth living. So... goodbye mom, for the third time, but not for the last time."

He held out his trembling hand and laid the white rose at the base of her tombstone and turned around, "Thank you for coming." He said as he faced his family and teachers. "It would have been... harder to do that alone. I'm ready to go now, and also thank you for everything else. I don't know what I'd have done without your steady guidance."

His voice was flat, calm, like placid waters as if there were not a deep well within, and yet, the tremble in his hand and the last look back at Moira's grave told them, there was more beneath than showed on the surface.

Enri gave him a gentle, matronly smile and embraced him warmly as Lupusregina threw his pack on her back, and the gate opened.

"Till next time." He said to them, and stepped through the gate with Lupusregina at his side.

_...Arwintar's Grand Arena Training Grounds..._

"Well, this is about what I expected." He said as he looked at the sands around him and beneath his feet. Targets were plentiful, instructors were shouting at people in various stages of combat training.

Weapons and armor of various types were on proud display, and the heat pounded the area hard, a good distance away he saw what seemed to be a female team running an obstacle course, working in tandem to overcome things they were not likely to overcome alone. High platforms, complex puzzles that required them to work together to solve, and to do so quickly.

"I'm going to like it here." Goan said with the quiet savagery of a young man nearing the prime of his youth.

"I think so too." Lupusregina said as she looked around with her customary smiling mask. Goan felt the bloodlust of the monster beneath the skin, but was not the least bit troubled, he walked with quiet purpose and soft steps over the sand until he reached a registration table on the far end of the field.

"Goan. From the City of Carne Village." He said before he was asked, and extended the acceptance letter to a large troll.

"Drop your gear, it'll be taken to your quarters by the porter, welcome to the forge kid, hope you can take a hit." The troll said as Lupusregina tossed the large pack down beside Goan's feet.

Lupusregina was about to say, 'he can' when the sound of someone falling with a shout of pain hit their ears. He looked over, and a large orc was standing over a half elven male. "Excuse me a moment." Goan remarked, and approached where the encounter was taking place, and got there by the time the third kick was about to land.

"I think you got him." Goan said in his emotionless voice, drawing the attention of the orc.

"So what, he's got to get stronger, that's what he's learning." The orc asserted gruffly, but as he looked into the orc's eyes, Goan saw only pettiness and malice.

The orc shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated fashion and Goan glanced down at the bloody faced half elf. He wore cheap leather armor, and he smelled like sweat and fear. Nothing about him said, 'warrior'. He was starting to rise up, clutching the stomach that had been kicked. Gasping and coughing from the wind being knocked from his body by the larger fighter.

"Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure he knows he needs to be stronger. For another, nobody ever gets stronger from down there. I'm also fairly sure the instructors here teach a difference between fighting and bullying. So... which are you? A warrior, or a petty schoolboy thug?" Goan asked the question with such seriousness that for a moment, the orc was taken aback, unable to tell if the white haired young man in the black armor meant it or not.

His lips curled in a snarl, "Rich brats, always butting in." He muttered as he looked over the obviously expensive armor of the young man.

Goan ignored him and reached out a hand to help the half elf up the rest of the way. "You alright?" He asked with a tiny hint of consideration beneath his calm expression and calm voice.

"Yeah... thanks." He reached out to take Goan's hand, and the orc, furious at being ignored, darted his hand out to grab Goan's wrist.

A half second later he found himself looking up at the sky, wondering what just happened, the wind gone from his lungs, and looking up at a face as tranquil as death.

Goan ignored him again, and asked the half elf, "What's your name?"

Lupusregina, from where she stood with the troll, jerked her thumb at the white haired boy, "He'll be fine. Trust me. You got him from here, yeah? -su"

The troll grunted a little more respectfully.

"We do, and... I believe you." The troll said, and turned to call the new trainee over, as Lupusregina opened the gate again, and went back to her second home. The manor of her closest friend, in the City of Carne Village.

As she was doing so she couldn't help but think, 'I wonder what I'll be able to teach the rest of Enri's little brood when they get older. And for that matter, better snag something from the tavern to drink when I'm outside her window tonight, I'll bet she'll be keeping N'firea very... very busy.'

That made her laugh, all the way back to the house.


	11. Growth

Chapter 11: Growth

_...Crescent Lake..._

Nemu ran along the thin tree limb, her body bent forward and her arms down and back at her side, her powerful legs pumped like mad as she ate up ground. Behind her, her classmates struggled to keep up. Elves were the maddest of the lot, they who counted the trees to be their domain, hated to be shown up.

But she didn't slow down, a practice blade came at her chest, she parried it deftly without breaking her stride, the wind carrying her hair aloft behind her, she felt like she could run forever. An opponent barred her path, one of the instructors.

He flung out a chain to snag her, and she felt the predatory grin form on her face as she raised her hand, snagged it at its maximum extension, and pulled forward, drawing herself close and the instructor off balance. He came forward, straight into her kick, it sent him flying into the trunk behind him, but she didn't stop for the fight she was sure she'd lose. Instead she jumped down, towards the ground hundreds of feet below. She closed her arms and legs tight and straight back to ensure she fell with minimal resistance. Behind her, she could hear the instructor successfully snag some of her fellow students and force them into combat.

Her hooked knife came out as she drew closer to the ground, and snagged against the tree as she lashed it out, using [Lesser Strength] to ensure she held fast.

The hooked blade caught, and her descent began to slow until it came to a stop thirty feet from the ground, then and only then did she press her legs against the trunk and push off again. Her target was only twenty yards away.

She drew out two of her knives and threw them in quick succession at the unguarded back, hitting the dummy squarely in the center, and reaching her position seconds later before the 'ambush' could even be sprung from the other trees overhead. She turned around, put her left arm on her hip, opened her legs a little, and held her other hand out in front, and made a 'V' for victory sign with her right hand, with a smile on her face.

"Not bad." Zesshi said with a slow little clap as she hopped down from the tree.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Nemu said as she bowed deeply while her fellow students slowly caught up.

"Cenna and the others have taught you well." The Queen praised her sincerely, however Nemu sensed a 'but' coming.

"However, out there... unless you're something like the Sorcerer King, you'll need a team to survive." The Queen remarked pointedly.

"I have one in mind already, Your Majesty." Nemu said eagerly.

_...Magic Academy...E-Rantel..._

Kuuderika rolled to one side and hefted her staff, the fireball launched out and her opponent easily avoided it... only to gasp and shout with horror as he tumbled into a hole and brained his head on a rock.

She popped up to her feet quickly and dusted herself off with a satisfied smile on her face as her instructor looked at her in disbelief.

"Two spells at once?" He asked.

Kuuderika nodded, "Yes, sir. I've got two hands sooo... why not? As long as I keep my staff ready, I can use magic from my other hand as well."

"That's why you chose the adventurer track, isn't it? Despite your capability as a researcher." The instructor asked, an older man with graying hair and a thin body, his pasty white skin said he'd spent his life locked indoors.

"Yes, sir. That and, I don't really remember much about her... but I had a big sister once, who loved me, who took care of me, and did it by adventuring. And I have wonderful friends out there, who plan to do the same... I want to be able to go with them. My talents match my drive, and for that, I count myself unreasonably lucky." She responded with confidence as her opponent started to climb out of the hole she'd made appear.

"Excuse me." She said, and went over to extend her staff out, to help her opponent rise from the pit she'd cast him into.

He grinned sheepishly as the healing spell was cast on him, and he needed a second one a few moments later when his eyes lingered too long on Kuuderika's chest, and she happened to notice.

_...Baharuth Empire Arena..._

Goan ducked and the crowd cheered, he struck out with the flat of his palm on the vulnerable inner thigh of his barbarian opponent. A long haired olive skinned man with eyes like ash and hair as dark as coal. He was a hugely muscled figure, and used a long, two handed sword that carved great arcs in front of him, but up close, the weapon had a serious drawback.

And up close, Goan had a serious advantage. As the leg went down with the ki-backed strike, Goan brought his blade up and caught the pommel of the massive weapon of his opponent. When he did, he twisted himself inside the arms of his opponent, and slammed his forehead against the barbarian warrior's nose, sending him spraying blood and staggering away. A powerful forward kick to the diaphragm added further momentum, and he brought the edge of his blade to the barbarian's throat when the behemoth fell onto his back.

The huge man relaxed. "This was your first fight?" He asked of the victor.

Goan nodded, "Here, at least."

"I hope to fight you again, I'll be stronger next time." The would-be barbarian said as he held his hand out to ask for help rising. Goan gave it, and drew the man to his feet.

"Good. Me too." He replied evenly, and Goan took position for the second matchup against his next opponent for the day.

So it was for those who would be gods of the arena, or the discoverers of the world, miles of running at the crack of dawn, weight training after very large meals, brief rests in the afternoon, followed by more complex educations for those on the adventurer tracks.

...Classroom...

The education center for the adventurers was considerably smaller than the physical training center. However, size and intensity were not synonymous. Books lined the walls, materials written by former adventurers and soldiers, compendiums bracketing collected works at far ends containing knowledge of how to live off the land even when magic was somehow unavailable. The desks were small but functional, sized to the average racial characteristics of the individual student. At the head of the class, stood a rare thing, a minotaur instructor out of the Beastman Kingdom.

"If you want to survive in foreign lands, much'll be expected of you. Things that are foreign, things that are disgusting, but no matter who sits on whatever throne, in every country, custom is the true king. Learn what you'll be expected to do whenever possible, and then when you go there, do that. If you can't, don't go there." The big minotaur said and slapped his meaty brown fist on the olive colored board behind him. The sound crack startling a few who had started to drift off.

He pointed to a half elf, "You, give an example to the class!"

Her eyes flew open from their half weary, drooping state and she sat up straight, then stood, stunned. "Ah, in the Devor Empire, it is customary to serve guests on a diplomatic mission, a six month old human fetus. This was supposedly done with an ambassador from the Draconic Kingdom, about fifty years ago who went there to try to bribe them to attack the Beastmen Kingdom. He refused, and they were so offended that they not only refused, they told the Beastman Kingdom."

"And what happened then?" The minotaur instructor asked sharply.

Her mouth opened and closed several times, the class was quite awake then and listened with rapt attention.

"They raided eight towns instead of the usual four, and left no survivors, twenty four thousand humans were butchered and eaten, and it is believed that this was a contributing factor to their eventual decision to invade the entire Draconic Kingdom rather than any other country."

The class was silent.

"Correct." The minotaur said with a deep huff. "And what happened to the ambassador?"

"The Devor took him to a slaughter zone and gouged out his eyes after making him watch for half a day, so that the sights there were the last he ever saw. They then sent him home, he went insane and never recovered." The half elf woman said with a trembling voice.

"You may say that the Beastman and the Devor were wrong." Their instructor said with a stern look down his long snout, "But if you think they gave a damn, or give a damn, in the case of the Devor, you're wrong. You who are looking beyond the sands of the arenas will face things nobody ever has. You must have the will to act even when you think you can't, the stakes may be far higher than one offended host."

"Sir! Yes, sir!" The trainees shouted in response.

"Good." Their teacher stamped his hoof. "Next lesson is small group tactics. Open your texts and read chapter seven while I get the practical exercise tools ready." He said as he reached into his desk and drew out a small box holding the toy soldiers that had been made so popular through the Argland Tabletop Tournaments.

...Six Months Later...Carne...

"Yes! Right...THERE!" Enri cried out as she arched her back in ecstasy on top of her husband. She spasmed in blissful release as Nfirea groaned and thrust his hips up, raising her partially off the bed until they collapsed together.

She fell over top of him, her hands grasped for his and their fingers intertwined. He kissed her lips and his tongue dueled with hers for several minutes that went by with barely a notice before the kiss broke and they could say a word.

"That was... amazing." Nfirea said with a breathy sigh as his body relaxed.

"Isn't it always?" Enri asked with a wink.

"Yes!" Lupusregina shouted from outside their window where she'd secreted herself.

The couple blushed deep crimson. "Damn it, Lupu! What did I tell you about that window?!" Enri shouted with a roll of her eyes.

"No, more hiding, outside there!" Lupusregina shouted with a mischievous grin in her voice, "You said it with a comma, I heard it! No idea why you like me listening so much, yah pervs! -su" She shouted and cackled with lascivious laughter.

Enri groaned, "I swear, Grand Matriarch, my Governess butt. Can't get a lick of privacy even in my own manor!" She slung herself off of her husband and threw on a robe as she strode purposefully to the door.

She raised up the window and poked her head out and looked down while her husband busied himself drawing a bath in another room out of sheer embarrassment.

Enri was just about to reprimand her bodyguard and best friend, when the crouching Lupu held up a trio of letters to her face. "From the kids, thought you'd like to read 'em 'after' you were done in there. -su"

Enri was briefly frozen in surprise and the redhead stood up as soon as Enri took the letters in hand. "Careful not to push yourself too hard in there. -su" Lupusregina said as she looked down at the little bump growing from Enri's belly. She then reached out and bopped Enri's nose lightly, "And don't stress yourself out. I know how stressed you get when the Pope shows up on one of her annual paroles and chooses to come here for a ceremony."

Enri tied the robe off around her waist and her serious expression spoke volumes. "I don't plan on being here. I'm going to Crescent Lake to see Nemu."

Lupusregina put her hands behind her head casually and folded her hands together. "Look, it's none of my business where you go as long as you do your job, but this is the fourth time since the verdict that you've been conspicuously absent when the Pope showed up. Shouldn't you at least welcome her officially? People are starting to talk." Lupusregina asked with the usual bluntness but without the usual humor or her perpetual smile.

Enri shook her head without saying a word and began to open the first letter.

"Are you scared of her?" Lupusregina asked with a cockeyed look that, had it a different tone, might have been taken as mocking or mean, as it was, 'for once' when Enri glanced at her pervert companion, there was nothing but seriousness on her face.

"No, it's just that I did try to kill her after all, sort of." Enri shrugged the question off as she stepped away to get dressed. "Besides, it's hardly unusual for a mother or big sister to go see family."

Lupusregina shrugged it off, "If you say so. Just leave behind some official greetings and regrets again, I guess. -su"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Enri shrugged it off dismissively and tore open the letters one by one.

'Sister, it is my hope that this letter finds you well, things are going well here in Crescent Lake, I've made some great friends, and I've totally kicked butt, tell Auntie Lupu I said thanks a bajillion again! Not many kids my age already have 'a' martial art under their belt, and thanks to your letter of introduction, Cenna took a personal interest in my class. With Queen Zesshi's permission, he gave me some private lessons. No, not that kind! But... hey, if he offered... I kid, I kid! He seems to prefer the company of Lakyus. Too bad, a girl's gotta have fun! I know you're crinkling your nose at me right now, but I've heard you and your husband, and Lupusregina does a damn good impression of all the noise you make, so I don't want to hear it!'

Enri looked up from the letter and stuck her head out the window, glaring down where Lupusregina had planted herself, stretched out easily with a mug of beer and a straw idly chewed in her mouth, she smiled smugly up at Enri.

"What? -su" Lupusregina asked teasingly.

"Impressions of us?" Enri asked archly.

"Want me to show yah?" Lupusregina asked and took the straw from her mouth, she parted her lips and took a deep breath.

"No! No! Forget I said anything!" Enri said, waving her hands erratically and blushing cherry red.

"M'kay." Lupusregina replied and relaxed again with a teasing wink as the sun shone down on her radiant face.

Enri eased herself back into her manor and shut the window sharply and resumed reading.

'Most of my classmates are wood elves, but you know, there are a few dark elves and some other humans to boot, not much else though. We're coming up on our next exams soon, and I'm expecting to get top marks again. I owe everybody my best work after all, I hope you're able to come see me soon as we prepare for the next year, but if you can't, I understand. His Majesty has given us so much, we must return his loyalty with our own. If you see him, tell him I said, 'His friends are amazing.' he always liked hearing that. Well, I have to wrap this letter up, so all the best! Love, Nemu!'

...Arwintar... Arena Punishment Zone...

Goan's body was coated with sweat and so covered with sand that clung to the stinking liquid his body had let out, that his natural color was all but indistinguishable. He was not alone, beside him stood a squad of other trainees.

In front of their ranks stood the orc painmaster. He was, like the rest of them, stripped to the waist, but his entire torso was painted deep red in contrast to his natural green skin. "Welcome to death, you who were defeated." He said as he tapped his hand on a large, thick wooden post, one of two that sat with no explanation, embedded into the sands.

"Out there, when you fight and lose, your people die. When your people die, you die. Today you're going to learn just what that means, or close as I can bring you to that without you going and dying on me." The Orc spat into the sand and looked at them with seeming disgust. The large white protruding teeth from his lower jaw made him seem even more fearsome, but to Goan, accustomed to such people in his home city, thought nothing of it.

"We're going to beat that lesson into you, and into your fellows who were defeated under your leadership as well as those who won, so they don't get complacent." As the orc painmaster spoke, an instructor aide, an elven male likewise stripped to the waist, but painted white over his torso, approached and slid an iron rod into holes in the posts so that it created a crossbeam.

"Grab that." The painmaster said gruffly and jabbed his finger out at the bar. "Hold on for as long as possible, don't worry about 'how many times' we're going to hit you. Only know this, whatever you don't manage to take, your subordinates will take the difference, one by one, until all the blows have been dispensed with. Questions?"

The faces of the various recruits went pale. "Anyone wants to drop out now, well, you know the way out. Just remember that if your comrades fall early, that means they'll take whatever blows you would have." The orc laughed mercilessly and pointed to the yellow square that was painted on some grass just beyond the sands. He waited, various warriors in training, and they looked anxiously at one another, the sheen of sweat was thick on every face that was capable of sweating now had a fresh cause. 'Will someone take the coward's square and abandon us?' It was a natural thought to have.

But the answer remained a no as the orc painmaster held his hand pointed outward for a full minute, until he allowed it to drop at his side, and the white painted aide brought him a long thin rod with a worn leather grip that had once been brown, but which was now rust colored from the blood of countless fighters in the past.

The many faces of the defeated and the victors alike who stood around the assembly of defeated leaders, bit their lips with a growing sense of dread. "So... I wonder how much pain you'll take for those who followed you to failure?" The orc painmaster gave a few practice swings of the rod up and down as he let the tension grow.

"Guess we'll find out." He laughed a brutal, thuggish laugh, "Alright, first up, Deku! Grab on, and don't let go until you fall."

A wood elf of relatively slight stature but of tightly defined muscles approached with a slow and dignified stride, and leaning forward, he grabbed the bar that was at roughly shoulder height, exposing his naked back.

The blows came hard in the steady rhythm of a metronome. The screams of the wood elf filled the air, spatters of blood flew out with every draw of the rod, striking the faces and bodies of his squad mates who were brought to the fore to watch the price of their defeat exacted on their leader.

Within twelve blows, he released his grip and fell with a heavy thud to his knees, and forward onto all fours, a shaking, bloody wreck.

"Pick him up." The painmaster said grimly to his team, and added as they shuffled forward, "He didn't take them all, you'll have more to bear." The wood elf, dark elf, and goblin who made up his team traded looks of dread as they picked up their yowling leader and carried him out of the circle.

The next three did little better. Goan watched with the quiet calm of his even nature, keeping his breathing focused and his mind at rest. 'That's one way to teach people not to lose, I guess. This... this is going to suck.' The young white haired figure thought to himself.

Finally, his turn came. "Goan! Forward."

"Sir!" Goan snapped, and strode forward swiftly, the bar was slick, and drops of blood stained the sand red at his feet, he leaned forward, held fast, and took a deep breath.

'Remember what the demon said, it isn't what you can give out, but what you can bear, that makes for strength.' The first blow hit, and his back was on fire. He stiffened sharply, throwing his head back, he howled. The second blow hit, then the third, then the fourth. 'I will not fall! I will not fall! I will not fall!' He screamed inside his head over and over again.

Out of nowhere, in the midst of his screams, a memory stirred. The letter detailing his mother's death in Wheaton as it was determined by the warriors who found her corpse. 'Mother... if you can see this, I follow your example, and I learn from it. I will not fall as you did.' A howl escaped his lips, but it did not seem to be his own, it felt as if he were watching someone else's pain as his wild black eyes went skyward.

As his head went back, he held it in that position, and was kissed by the rays of the shining sun. Like the rays themselves were not the sun, but rather that they were the lights he remembered in his mother's sparkling eyes, watching over him the way she did when he was small. The wind ceased to be the wind in his mind, that gentle breeze became her gentle caress, her fingers running through his white hair as they had when she was living.

The pain was gone as it had been when she'd held him through injuries in childhood. He felt a warm embrace so tight and firm and gentle all at once that the blows of the heavy iron bar were nothing but gentle drops of spring rain. His eyes welled up, and as if she had returned to him in that hour, he thought he heard her voice whispered into his ear. 'I fell, to hold you up. My son, my son, my boy... it's alright, you can let go...'

The painmaster had no anger in his voice as he shouted at the white haired young man, "Damn it, you fool! Let GO already!" After yet another blow failed to drop the lad, he stepped in and raising his iron rod high, he broke the rhythm and struck a series of heavy blows against Goan's upper back and shoulders, forcing the white haired warrior to fall to his knees, and down onto his face.

The painmaster approached and crouched down over the broken body, "He's unconscious. But he's alive, only god knows how. He wiped the bar of the slick redness that Goan had covered it with and cast off the remaining blood from his hand. He then pointed to the unmoving form with the now clean rod and said, "That's what it means to pass beyond flesh. Goan's squad, come get him, he took all your blows for you today, better thank him for that when he wakes up. Get him to treatment immediately. Low grade healing potions only, he's earned the scars."

"Sir..." They said with awe, and together a human woman, a dark elf man, and a half elf man, approached and, resting him on their shields, picked him up and carried the white haired youth away, to the sound of stamping feet.


	12. Hill of Beans

Chapter 12: Hill of Beans

_...E-Rantel..._

Kuuderika raised her arms and stretched in her seat with a satisfying groan and then leaned forward over her textbook. Her right hand flew over the document as she made her notes on the set of spells and the experiment for which she was responsible. The scratch, scratch, scratch of the quill was like music to her ears, glorious and wonderful it felt to write and bring life to her thoughts. A tiny smile formed on her face as she reached with her left hand to take a sip from her simple wooden cup. "By the one god... this is amazing stuff." She felt her eyes come into sharp focus as she set the cup down and turned the next page of the book.

Her eyes raced a mile a minute over page after page as knowledge poured itself into her brain. She drank from the cup again and frowned as she felt nothing. She looked down into it, "Noooo! It can't be empty!" She mourned aloud, drawing an eye from her blue haired roommate.

"What? You want more?" The teenager on the bed asked with a sly grin.

"Hell yes I do, C'mon Neike!" Kuuderika said with rapid nods as her blond hair bounced wildly with enthusiasm. "What was it you call this stuff?"

"Coffee. Amazing isn't it?" Neike asked with a clever smile.

"Ah, yeah, it is. Was it really found over the sea?" Kuuderika asked with eyes wide and marveling before they turned down mournfully to the empty cup.

"Yup, uncle's trade and exploratory mission found a bunch of it, they say we'll be sending out colonies there soon." Neika couldn't keep the pride out of her voice, turning her attention from her book long enough to answer. Her ruby lips and freckled face framed above a gangly teenage body spoke of the beauty she was slowly becoming.

"Well, I know where I want to go." Kuuderika said passionately, "Where I can get more of this stuff! Speaking of..." Kuuderika picked up the now empty cup and held it out like a pauper asking for alms, she shook the empty vessel with an exaggerated pathetic look accentuated by a hurt puppy face.

Neika chuckled and waved her hand over to the enchanted pitcher. "Help yourself, but remember, when it's gone, it's gone unless they send more."

Kuuderika looked at her with horror, "Nooooo... wait... how much is left?"

Neika shrugged, "That depends on how generous I'm feeling, and of course, whether you're willing to pay when my generosity runs out." She winked.

"You're Tinamoc's niece alright, that's for damn sure." Kuuderika rumbled and reached into her desk drawer. She drew from it a small leather pouch and drawing out a gold coin, she tossed it over to her roommate.

"Damn right." Neike said with a chipper voice as she caught the gold piece. Her eyes went wide as she looked into her palm and saw what she was holding.

"What the..." The blue haired girl began to utter.

"That's for the rest of the year, this stuff is my secret weapon for staying at the top of the class, and by the way, I just bought your whole stock straight to graduation." Kuuderika stated flatly.

Neike grinned, "You're my true patron, this'll be plenty, but... you also have to tutor me, and one more thing."

Kuuderika looked at her in askance, a tiny frown on her face as suspicion dawned. "I told you, I'm not into girls."

"Not that! That was the liquor talking... tease." Neike laughed and blushed briefly, "I knew I shouldn't have snuck that bottle... no, listen, I mean you've got to leave these stuffy quarters sometimes, all you do is go to the library, class, and here. Come out and hang out with my friends sometime, we can go hit up a tavern or something. Maybe visit the adventurers guild. If we're lucky, we might even see Momon, he's known to stop by sometimes to encourage the newbies."

Kuuderika groaned, "I don't 'only' do that. I have my martial arts training, I'm actually not half bad with a hammer now."

"Yeah, I mean do something 'other' than things that pertain to preparing you for life as an adventurer. Don't you get it, dingus? Life 'itself' is an adventure, come on, go party, go laugh, hook up with a guy or something." Neike said both enthusiastically and slightly critically.

"Hey... I go on dates..." Kuuderika started to say defensively as she got up from her desk and went to pour a cup. "Damn, whoever invented this enchanted pitcher was a genius."

"Meh, a pitcher that heats water for tea isn't that clever, I think the simple invention of that little mesh thing that holds the coffee beans is smarter, all the flavor without having pieces of it in your teeth." Neike said enthusiastically, then waved her hand dismissively.

"No distractions though, you mean you went on a 'date', you had one date with one guy one time and nothing since. I swear, you're like one of those silly edgelords who dye their hair white and deprive themselves of all pleasures. I swear, thinking sadness will make them stronger is just dumb." Neike tittered and shook her head before she lay back on the bottom bunk again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll say no to all that, I just..." Kuuderika went and sat back down in her chair at her desk and turned to one side. She held the steaming cup in her hand and looked down at the black liquid within.

"What?" Neike asked with a sensitive voice, laying her book down on her chest to give Kuuderika her full attention.

"We've known each other for awhile now... haven't we?" Kuuderika asked softly.

"Yeah, I mean since you and that scary red haired girl showed up on day one. I like to think we've become friends." Neike replied gingerly.

"This isn't easy to say, I don't like talking about it. But... I had an older sister, really talented girl, she was an adventurer in the empire. One day she went on an adventure and never came back. Now I'm heading down the same path, I even have the same talent. The thing is, she quit school to become an adventurer, but I'm not. I'm not with a shit family that will sell me to pay their debts. My adoptive mother has given me more for an allowance than some people make in a lifetime. I don't have to do what my big sister did. So I just don't want to make the same mistake, that's why I don't go hang out with you guys. I'm scared I'll fail the way she failed, and then people behind me, the family I still have, will be trapped like I was. Always wondering and never knowing what really happened to me, the way I always wondered about her. I barely remember her face anymore, I don't even remember her voice. All I remember is that she loved me, loved my twin sister, and we were all going to be together when she came home. But she didn't come home and the next thing I knew, my twin and I were slaves, and then I was alone." Kuuderika swallowed and brought the cup to her lips.

When she brought it back down to her lap, she kept staring down into it. "That's why I work the way I do. That's why I don't come out with you guys, I'd like to, but I'm terrified that one day's failure to prepare will create a lifetime of pain." Kuuderika took a slow breath, and when Neike didn't say anything, she turned back to the desk, set the cup next to her textbook, and resumed studying.

Neike's head was reeling with the revelation, 'Seriously, richy richgirl mcrichy with the perfect gear, the beautiful servant, a slave, a dead sister, sold off by her mother... well... now I feel kind of like an asshole here.' Finally she spoke, "You know... I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't know all that. But also, that's more why you should come out. You should have some fun with your life, I mean would anybody who cares about you, really be happy knowing you've never gotten to really enjoy yourself?"

Kuuderika's quill stopped scratching over the paper for a moment. "Probably not... you're right. But I can't stop, not yet. Tell you what, our big exam is coming up, and the day after that is the retest day for failures, while everyone else is off. If I get top marks, I'll come out with you all. But... only if you all pass too."

Neike thought about that for a moment, "Alright, how about we set up study sessions in here until the exam?" She asked as she began to embrace the idea.

"Deal. I'll help you all out with the studying, you all help me relax and have a good time." Kuuderika stuck out her hand, and Neike rose from the bunk, approached, and shook it.

"Merchant's deal, I'll be back soon, I'll go get my friends, we'll start tonight." Neike said enthusiastically.

"Fine, but take your time, and... bring me that pitcher before you go, I'm 'not' sharing my coffee, damn it." She said covetously and eyed the pitcher as if she feared it might vanish from sight.

"Fair enough, you bought it after all." Neike asked with a mild laugh and retrieved the pot before she went to retrieve her friends, leaving Kuuderika to work alone for a little while.

_...Crescent Lake..._

Enri knelt before the throne of Queen Zesshi and bowed her head politely. "Highness, it's a pleasure to see you." Enri said formally.

"Yes indeed, how long has it been, General Enri?" The Queen replied with equal formality from her throne.

"Goodness, not since we were kneeling to the Demon of the West and pledging our armies to her command." Enri replied as she thought back.

Zesshi frowned slightly, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't call her that, maybe to you, she was a demon, but to my people she's a savior. I realize you two don't get along, but please, if you must speak of her around me, speak respectfully."

Enri bowed her head lower, "I apologize, Your Highness. I was out of line, I suppose I spent too long in the old Theocracy lands after the war and... well, some of their attitudes might have rubbed off on me."

"It's fine, I just ask that you be mindful of your company. The past is dead, let's not live like it is still with us. Anyway, I understand you're here to visit your little sister?" Zesshi inquired politely and folded her hands into her lap, her piercing heterochromatic eyes roamed over the former General turned Governess.

"Yes, though officially I'm here to talk about establishing a scholarship program to smooth the education path for those pursuing a military career. The reality is that... well look at a map, we're very far away and travel to your province can be prohibitively expensive for those without [Gate] scrolls. I don't have to tell you how rare those are." Enri said simply, "I hate to think about talent missing the opportunity for growth because they couldn't afford the cost of reaching their potential. Sure the roads are safe now, but there's still costs that aren't covered by the school that keep many far away."

Zesshi tapped her fingers on her left hand over the back of her right, keeping them folded over her lap as she thought things through. "A fair point, but... that would reduce the slots available for people in this province, people whose taxes go to help support that school. I hate to reduce their opportunities to provide them to outsiders."

"Now who is living like the past is the present?" Enri asked with an arched brow. "You speak of outsiders, forgetting that we are all one Empire, His Majesty is lord over all of us, and there are no 'outsiders' anymore."

Queen Zesshi blinked in surprise at the swift verbale riposte of the governess, 'Hard to believe that she was nothing but a peasant once.' Zesshi thought to herself, then inclined her head in acceptance of the criticism. "I accept your point, but counter that you are 'outsiders to our budget'. Your city pays nothing to our coffers, does nothing to fund our schools, and yet you expect to reap the benefits? I think His Majesty's justice would call that unfair, wouldn't you agree?"

Enri absorbed the counterstrike, but struck back, prepared. "I think you may be right... but I did not come to ask the charity of your budget, instead I come prepared to make a proposal. If your school will grant travel vouchers and open up more slots to those outside of your Kingdom, we will open up spaces for 'preparatory education' at our learning institutions. We will be following your school's curriculum, and in return for you staffing those, we will fund a percentage of your Academy's education and housing budget. Not entirely, just equivalent to the percentage of slots taken up by those from the areas I govern. If we begin funding it this year, the first year will be allowed to apply in full numbers following the annual Empire budgetary meeting."

Zesshi grinned enthusiastically and rubbed her hands together as she eyed the advantages of the proposal. "Oh very good, yes, but tack on ten percent to the total net contribution, I need to justify the new competition though."

'Heh, I budgeted for her to ask for fifteen percent extra.' Enri thought slightly smugly as she slightly out negotiated the Half Elven Queen. "Fine, we'll send you the formal proposal later in writing. Got to admit, I thought you'd argue more."

Zesshi shook her head vigorously. "Nope, truth be told your proposal is well-timed, the centuries of hostility to outsiders have left a lot of elves hostile to competition for any spaces they think of as 'theirs'. It makes them slack off a bit in preparing for service based education. This will make a nice wake up call. Plus with a year to prepare for the change, they'll take it better, especially if there is a profit to be had for the school. I'll just have to count on their native arrogance to believe they can 'easily outcompete' the citizens from Carne & E-Rantel."

"Tell them I said 'Good luck with that.'" Enri grinned sharply, a grin that was deeply competitive, and met in turn by her royal counterpart.

"I will, Governess." Zesshi smiled slyly, "Now that the official matters are taken care of, go, see your sister, you can join me for dinner later as my guest."

"It would be my honor, Your Highness." Enri said sincerely as she stood, bowed, and departed.

An hour later she was standing outside the training grounds with the grass beneath her feet, and the feel of light raindrops falling from overhead, blown by the slight breeze, they struck her face and ran down her skin in the kind of gentle caress that only nature could provide. The water felt warm, and the sweet smell of the grass hit her nose bringing up happy memories. Impulsively, she slipped off her expensive shoes and set her bare feet into the green. She scrunched her toes over the soft earth beneath and savored the feel of it all.

Not a hundred yards from where she stood, she saw trainees striking at each other, and heard the shouts of group commanders, even the clash of weapons and cries of sudden pain were audible in the great open ground. Beyond the training areas were the large tree structures that served as naturally grown buildings, dorms, libraries, classrooms, all built into living trees and guided to grow over centuries through elven magic.

"Beautiful." Enri said as she picked up her shoes and walked over the field. Her long blonde hair hung in a long braid down her back and swayed against the expensive command armor of her war years which she wore over the expensive riding garment style that had been made popular by Princess Renner.

Every inch of her screamed 'rich' and 'important' even from a distance, though the hard stare in her eyes became more and more evident and prominent as she drew closer to those who gradually stopped as they noticed the approaching stranger.

By the time she reached the outskirts, training had begun to slow to a halt, and that let Enri hear what she wanted. Nemu's voice.

"Come and get me!" Nemu shouted, Enri heard the big heavy feet charging toward her sister.

As she looked around for the sound, her now more practiced ears found the knot of people soon enough. Ignoring the students and instructors who were trying to make sense of who the well dressed woman in the armor of a General was, she wove her way from group to clustered group.

Finally she found it, a particularly intense clash whose watching numbers were enthralled with the fight.

Enri tapped on shoulders to get others to make room for her, a thing that happened without question whenever her armor and dress was observed, and if it weren't, her battle hardened eyes did the trick. Within seconds she was near to the front of the knot.

Nemu rolled out of the way of a heavy blow that struck the grass with a heavy thud. No sooner than she'd avoided the blow than she reached behind her back, drew a short knife, and threw it hard into the exposed back of her opponent.

That should have been it, but the behemoth moved like moonlight over water, leaping back and arching himself so that he flipped, hit the ground with his hands, and flipped backwards again, setting Nemu in front of him once more. He again tried a frontal blow, only for Nemu to roll back, and kick him with both feet, forcing him back out of reach again. She drew another pair of knives, and threw them hard at his chest from short range.

He parried both with his single weapon, only to find that the small auburn haired girl took the offensive, grabbing his wrist with a single hand, she twisted into his body and dropped, pulling him off center so that he fell to the ground, and then in her free hand, another knife was held, and set at his throat.

She was breathing hard, and grinning, an expression he shared as he looked up at her, and as the applause began, he thrust his face up, and kissed Nemu on her lips. She blinked in shock and the applause froze at the sudden display. Finally he broke the kiss and relaxed with a boyish grin. "Your victory prize, Nemu." He said with a cocky smile.

Enri watched as the dark haired bear of a young man kissed her little sister, and her mouth fell open.

"Nemu! What the hell?!" Enri shouted, breaking the silence.

Nemu's eyes jumped up from him, to her sister. "Ah... hi." She said sheepishly as she stood up and held her hand out to the man she'd just defeated, helping him up.

"Ah, sis, you're here early. This is Thorn, he's ah..." She blushed deeply, the fierce warrior was gone and the sheepish girl remained, she shifted her feet uncomfortably.

"Her boyfriend, and you would be?" Thorn asked curiously, a boyish look on his face as he realized he might have gone just a little overboard.

"Boyfriend? I'm her big sister. Former General Enri, Commander of the Army of Carne, former governess of the old Theocracy, and current governess over the lands from Carne to E-Rantel." Enri stared daggers at the sudden blush on the boy's face.

"Oh... ah, well... this is awkward." He said as he put one hand behind his head and rubbed it nervously, the rest of the knot of people who had been watching the struggle, made similarly awkward gestures and looked away, embarrassed.


	13. Surprise

_...Arwintar…_

Goan chewed on the rich, supple, fatty meat of a calf. His jaw slowly worked it over and over, and he sucked hard on the juices, savoring the flavor. His eyes rolled back in his head as he closed their lids. "By god that's good." He said blissfully. He stretched out on the sands with his back against the stone wall, and held up his cup as a water bearer, a young female goblin, brought a jug by. "More please!" He said with practiced courtesy.

"Sure thing, Ridgeback." The goblin girl replied and with a teasing grin, she tilted the lip of the jug toward his cup. Goan's face was blank as ever, but inside he felt himself blush slightly at the nickname.

"What's up Ridgeback?" A male elf asked as he approached with a bowl and sat down across from him.

Goan rolled his eyes. "Must you call me that?" He asked for the thousandth time. "I mean really, they're just scars, and I didn't get them in battle, I got them because my squad 'lost' a fight, remember? Give me a break, Hephse."

The wood elf crossed his legs and pointed at Goan with the hunk of bread. "You lost the battle, but you won a reputation. That's got to count for something."

"Do you really want a reputation as a meat shield?" Goan asked pointedly as he thrust his bread into the bowl and scooped up more savory meat and broth.

"Uh, yeah, beats having a nickname like 'Domino' for always falling down." Hephse pointed out with a wink and a smirk. "Besides, you're about to test out of this rank, end of next year and you'll get to actually step into the arena itself in the junior leagues! You should be happy about that."

Goan groaned. "I told you, I'm not going for the arena, I want to be an adventurer, go out, see the world. Maybe take some foreign posting on the frontiers, I heard the first sailors to go out of sight of land, actually found something. From what they're saying in the streets, there are fucktons of new goods, plants, foods, and so on hitting port along the Re-Estize coast now. You think I want to hang out in a bunch of arenas, when I can go see what nobody has seen before? Ah, no, no thank you." Goan jabbed his thick bread down into the bowl, then drained his wooden cup of water and slapped it down beside him.

Hesphe rolled his eyes. "You can make a lot more money in the arena, you know that. Then travel abroad in style."

Goan shrugged, "I don't need it." He said passively, "my future has already been set."

"Man, rich kids get all the luck." Hesphe gave Goan a clever smile and rocked back to rest on his hands.

"Losing is very rarely 'lucky'. You may see the scars on my back as some mark of toughness, the Painmaster may even commend them as a sign of strength, but to me? To me it just means that I led people, and lost. The only good thing about it all, is that we all got to walk away afterward." Goan grumbled. "Ridgeback, after all those bumps and marked up flesh, might as well be 'loser' and having a rich woman look after me, didn't save my mother's life, and it won't save mine out there." Goan took up the bread and popped it into his mouth, finishing off his meal. "Excuse me, I'd better line up." He looked past Hephse where some workers finished assembling a large modular platform.

Hephse looked over his shoulder at the construction. It was a shockingly simple exam. On each side stood a set of steps that led up to a long wooden bridge between the two sets. The bridge was wide enough for two to pass abreast, but not so wide that even a small trainee could slip by their adversary.

He waved to Goan as the would-be adventurer took the first position. "Just relax Ridgeback, you've got this. All you've got to do, is last, or force them back to the steps. And I've put a silver to you doing the latter." Hephse grinned and held up a paper betting slip.

"Thanks. Annoying personality or not, at least I know you've got my back." Goan said sincerely, and it was only the smallest inflection that hinted to Hesphe that there was friendliness intended beneath Goan's words.

"I still owe you for our first day, don't sweat it." The young elf grinned, and spun himself around to watch as the test applicants made their way to line up on one side.

Goan didn't say anything more, there was nothing more in his mind that needed to be said. A bin of wicker sat next to the steps holding all manner of practice weapons, from axes and knives to swords and clubs. On the opposite side sat various shield models, from small and round to large kite shapes. He ignored those, but swept his hand briefly into a bowl of chalk dust as it was passed down the line. After coating his hands with it, he reached for a falcata and gave it a few quick swings in front of him for good measure.

Across from him a large human holding a pair of long practice swords. His front was battle scarred and he might as well have been carved out of wood, not a needless ounce of flesh was present. He swung his practice swords out in front of himself with such vigor that the breeze it made struck Goan's body twenty feet away.

Goan felt his heartbeat quicken only slightly, but gave no outward sign of anticipation, let alone fear as the classmates and instructors began to gather.

Their minotaur instructor approached and stood on the ground near the center of the platform. "First up, Goan. Your opponent, second tier instructor, Lieben. Victory conditions, endure a three minute assault without a lethal blow, land a lethal blow of your own, or drive him from the platform. Defeat conditions, fall, surrender, lose consciousness, take a lethal blow, or die."

There was a low round of laughter at some of the more 'unlikely' victory conditions, but neither Goan or Lieben were laughing, blank face met blank face, and they stepped to the stairs as if they were one entity despite being over twenty feet apart.

"Take position!" The big minotaur shouted, and the two ascended the wooden steps until they reached the top. "Respect and honor." The minotaur said, and they raised the swords of their right hands up vertical with their faces.

Leiben looked down at the young tester, 'Strange to see someone that young want to test, most wait another year to ask for this… what's the rush?' He wondered idly as the young man stared at him through dark, piercing eyes. 'Well, if he wants a test, he'll get one, funny looking lad though, he can't be that old, but his hair is white as bone, and I can't feel 'anything' from him, not fear or anticipation, he's like a ghost with a body instead of a body with a ghost.'

"Begin!" The minotaur shouted, and the two clashed, Leiben brought the sword in his left hand up and down only for Goan to duck down at the opposite angle and use his free hand and the momentum of his hips to push against the arm that swung the blade, rendering the right arm useless as Leiben was twisted away.

The falchion went back, level with Goan's waist, and thrust forward for a kidney strike. Leiben however, went with the twist and spun away, just out of reach of the tip of the blade and the right arm went up to bring the sword down on Goan's unguarded head.

The crack of Goan's sword as it came up not to idly block, but as if to attack the overhead strike, sounded over the grounds. He followed up with a swift kick to Leiben's knee, only to find it braced, and then raised, forcing Goan back in turn.

From down below, the cheers of students and instructors watching the interplay went on without pause, however the minotaur judge watched only with dispassionate curiosity. 'Leiben is especially strong, and graceful, sure he's holding himself back, but still the boy fares well. Someone taught him in the fashion of the faith.'

Leiben towered over the young Goan and brought the fight closer, his swords became a whirlwind in front of him out at the center of his body intended to drive the trainee backward, and for several feet, Goan withdrew, drawing jeers and taunts as he did so, until it became evident that this was not a thoughtless retreat.

Leiben was the first to recognize it. 'He stepped back for a reason… I suppose if this were a real fight, I'd change my approach but… this is a test… and let's see how you do.' He thought to himself, and continued his advance.

He wasn't disappointed, Goan sprinted forward faster than he had any right to, and his falchion swept up from below, striking the center of the whirlwind hands, and driving them briefly apart as his sword continued its upward path, Leiban leaned back on his heels to avoid the tip. Goan however, had a follow up, and landed a heavy kick directly into Leiben's chest, driving him back several feet and as his sword flipped over in his palm, a shout brought them both to a halt.

"Time!" The minotaur instructor said loudly, "Goan advances to the next tier!"

Leiben tossed the swords on either side of the platform, letting them fall into the sand, and approached the successful trainee. He held out his hand, "Good kick." He said as he looked down at the lean, white haired young man.

"Thanks." Goan said neutrally and took Leiben's forearm in his grip, they clasped flesh and shook firmly.

Though the words were grateful and Leiben felt no insincerity, there wasn't the exhultation that was usually present in successful students, 'Did he take it as a given that he would pass? No… no, someone that arrogant wouldn't have worked hard enough to pass in the first place.' He thought, and then added aloud, "I'll be your instructor in the next tier, work hard."

"If it isn't hard, it isn't work." Goan said, and winked.

Leiben looked blankly down at the boy, 'Was that a joke? OK we've found a weak point, he's a shitty joke teller.'

"Ah, yeah. Well do more of what you did today." Leiben said, and then descended the platform to the back slaps and handshakes and praises of his peers, but it wasn't to last.

"Next up! Messa!" The minotaur warrior shouted, and a young woman began to walk up the stairs holding a small shield and a short sword.

As Goan moved away and stepped beyond the crowd, Hesphe tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey… why'd you really go up there? I gotta know."

Goan turned around and looked into the face of the covetous young elf. "You really want to know?" Goan asked seriously, his face blank and his words quiet.

"I asked, didn't I? I mean most wait another year before they try to move up a rank, sure you passed but… it just doesn't make sense to rush it like that." Hesphe replied, he scratched his head and shrugged, "I guess you don't have to say anything. I owe you, not the other way around but… we're friends aren't we?" His elven ears twitched a little at the question, drawing curiosity out within Goan at what he recognized as a nervous gesture.

"Well, yes. Fine… you really want to know? Because I made a deal, or perhaps you'd call it a bet. That'd I'd write to 'them' only after my first arena victory. This puts me much, much closer to my first win, I didn't want to wait longer, that's all." Goan said with an offhanded casualness that, had they been different words, might have been regarded by Hesphe as indifference.

"Who is 'them'?" Hesphe asked in a clueless voice.

"You're hopeless." Goan replied and rubbed his face, "I swear, your social skills will make you a fantastic fighter."

Hesphe grinned at the 'compliment'. "Thanks, I'm working hard… why are you grimacing? That was a compliment… wasn't it? Wait..."

Goan waved the question away, "Don't worry about it, I'm headed off to the baths."

_...Crescent Lake…_

"Boyfriend?!" Enri exclaimed as she looked down at the two.

"General Enri?! THE General Enri?!" He looked up at the Grand Matriarch in a mix of reverence and dismay, then over to Nemu who still awkwardly lay over him. "You never told me she was your sister!" He said with surprise.

"Well… I never said she wasn't either." Nemu said defensively.

"Excuse me, but could we have this conversation without you on top of him?" Enri said as she tapped her fingers over her white command armor impatiently and glared daggers at the large young man.

The pair blushed beet red and scrambled to their feet.

"Something wrong over here?" A black armored instructor approached, Enri immediately recognized him.

"You, you're Cenna Tachoni, right?" Enri asked peremptorily.

"S'right." He said as he caught sight of Enri's command armor. "Given that you don't look like you've been ripped out of hell itself, don't have elven ears, and aren't escorted by a bevy of bodyguards, you must be the Grand Matriarch, Enri herself." He grinned boyishly and inclined his head.

"Cenna Tachoni, former captain of the Black Scripture, affectionately known as 'Cap' to my friends. I don't believe we've been formerly introduced until now." He held out his hand politely, and Enri took it with some reluctance. His disarmingly boyish charm was impossible to be irked with for long and her dismay at what she'd just seen was ebbing away with his almost cluelessly friendly demeanor.

"Right, we haven't been. I thought I'd meet you last time I came here after General Baraja's trial but…" She shrugged.

"Yeah, the Pope had a special request to make of me right after that, kept me busy for a few weeks. Couldn't be in Crescent Lake for a while." His sheepish grin told Enri plenty, and she couldn't keep the mild blush at bay.

"Ah, right, look…" Enri said, and gestured to Nemu and her 'sparring partner' who had disentangled themselves and approached the Matriarch of Carne to stand at one another's sides. "I don't want to criticize your training methods but… finding my little sister making out on the practice field isn't quite how I pictured my visit going."

Nemu covered her face with both hands. "Sissster!" She said through them as she hid her blush.

"I assure you, it's not part of the training regimen. Bold move though, very bold move, to kiss the little sister of a legendary general, in front of her, on the practice field. You'll go very far, lad." Cenna gave the young man a thumbs up and a wink.

He preened right up until Nemu elbowed him in the kidney. "Ow!" he said and rubbed the spot.

"Ah… sorry… General Enri, ma'am." He said and looked down at the towering legend. "I really like her is all, and… well it was an impulsive moment, just a playful thing…"

"My sister is a plaything to you?" Enri loudly exclaimed.

"No! No she's not I swear! I don't just want to play with her…" He tried to explain and stammered in frustration.

"So you do want to play with my little sister!" Enri pressed further, turning to face him, she put her hands defiantly on her hips and stared up at the blushing boy.

"No, yes, no… shit!" He uttered, and shouted as Nemu stomped on his foot.

"Stop explaining, you big oaf. At this point it's pretty obvious my sister is just fucking with you." Nemu said and put her hands on her own hips and glared only half mockingly at her big sister.

"It's the least I can do, after you forced me to witness 'that' as soon as I get here." Enri said with a much calmer, more humorous voice as she relaxed and started to laugh.

Nemu groaned in exasperation. "Captain," She said to Cenna, "Can I ask for a few hours off to spend time with my big sis."

Cenna laughed uproariously, clutching at his sides as he enjoyed the dressing down the Grand Matriarch gave the overly enthusiastic young man, and when the question finally came, he was quick to give Nemu what she wanted, though out of mercy or amusement after that, even he couldn't have said.

"Go, go, have fun. Your paramor can go take word to your teachers for me about your absence." Cenna gestured away from the field. "Just go, go before the lot of you kill me with laughter."

Nemu was a quick thinker, and she went straight to her sister's arm and took it in her own, then all but dragged her away.

Nobody barred their way, if anything, entire groups moved to give them a wide berth, which made it easy for Nemu to lead Enri away from the training grounds. "So how are you sis, what's going on in Carne, have you heard from Kuderika or Goan, and how is auntie Lupu, what about His Majesty?" She threw the questions as fast as she threw knives, giving Enri no chance to answer any one of them before the next came out.

This went on until they reached a shop, and Enri just waited out the barrage with the patience of a siege. "You've got to try this place, they have the 'best' tea, I come here all the time to buy books, read, study, and drink."

"Bertra's Brighter Days Book Shop" Enri said, reading the sign out loud. She looked around the city, the streets were clean and well ordered, elves more plentiful than anywhere she'd seen outside of an army, though it wasn't unusual to see a few humans or other races coming to and fro. The building itself seemed to have been 'grown' into place out of a large tree, much like the training grounds various buildings, and the wood seemed to have been polished to a shine, giving everything an otherworldly feel to it.

"Nice looking place." Enri said pleasantly.

"Yeah, it is, the owner gives discounts to students, teachers, and war veterans, so it's kind of a gathering spot for some of us." Nemu said enthusiastically and opened the door, a bell rang overhead, and behind the counter a pretty elven woman looked up from where she stood, reading a thick text.

"Hi Nemu, what can I get you?" Bertra asked, and her eyes went briefly wide as saucers when she saw the command armor worn by Nemu's companion.

"Hi Bertra, just some tea and some lemon bars if it isn't too much trouble, my sister will be paying today." She grinned and let the door close behind her.

"I will be?" Enri asked rhetorically.

Nemu folded her arms in front of her breasts, "Yes, you embarrassed me and my boyfriend both out there, the least you can do is cover the cost of tea and lemon bars."

Enri tittered a bit self consciously, "I guess that's true."

Bertra was still staring.

"Oh, guess I never mentioned it did I?" Nemu said as she saw the wide eyed look on Bertra's face. "I'm Enri's little sister."

"No, no you never mentioned that." Bertra replied hastily, 'Great, now if Neia comes in, my set of 'people who might kill me who come book shopping instead' will be complete!' Bertra thought with a dark humored internal laugh before she added, "Ah, let me just get the tea ready, there are some lemon bars already made in the back, just take whatever you need and I'll add it to your tab." Bertra said glibly.

"Sure thing, thanks Bertra!" Nemu said and led Enri to the back room.


	14. Tests

_...Crescent Lake…_

"So tell me about him?" Enri said when they sat in the back of the book shop and had helped themselves to a few lemon bars.

"Enri! No!" Nemu said testily and looked up gratefully at the owner as the elven woman handed her a saucer with a small tea cup on it. She sipped eagerly, keeping the cup covering part of her face almost defensively as she drank.

Enri stared innocently with wide eyes at her sister. "What?" She asked with faux dismay.

"Sister, I love you, but you'd have nothing less than god be good enough for me. Besides, I'm young, if I decide to bring him home, 'then' I'll tell you about him. Sure you raised me but… c'mon. You're still my sister, you don't have to 'always' play the mother hen." Nemu began her words testily, but by the end she had settled into them, and smiled with affection across the smooth table.

Enri dipped her lemon bar into the tea and stirred it for a moment, then took an exaggeratedly firm bite thereafter. "Nemu… you may be my sister, but I 'did' raise you and I can't help but think of you as much like a daughter as I do as a sister. After… after our parents, after the Slane Theocracy did what they did to our family…" Enri's stone eyes went briefly wet, "I don't know how much you even remember them anymore, how much you remember about that day. But the last thing they did before they died, was protect us, they told me to take you and run. All I've ever wanted since then is the best for you, to protect you. Maybe I'm overstepping my bounds a little, you're basically grown, but I can't help it. For a while, you were all I had left…" Enri reached out over the table, and Nemu closed that gap between them.

Both the younger girl's hands covered the one of her big sister, "Nobody could have asked for a better mother than you." Nemu said with her fierce eyes transfixed on Enri's face.

Her slender fingers wove themselves in between Enri's own, and each was surprised by the hardness and calluses that made up the touch of the other. "I'm not exactly grown up… yet, but… but I'm about the same age you were when they died. You made it as a grownup at that age. I will too. I'm working hard out here, away from home, and I'll make my place out there in the world. You just have to trust me. Can you do that?"

Enri bit her lip and clutched Nemu's slender, hardened fingers. "It'll be harder to let you be, than it was to take Crossroads. But… I'll try, it's just, yes I have children of my own now and all, but you're just like them. I don't want to think of you getting hurt, not in body or not in your heart, so of course I… no. No, I promise I won't give any boy you like, an ounce of shit, alright?" Enri managed a weak, fragile, shaking smile, albeit with some effort.

"Thanks… sis. Listen, he really is a good guy, I don't know what'll happen with him, I just know I enjoy being with him. We like to dance, to read, and he's a great singer, plus… you've got to admit, he's good looking." Nemu grinned mischievously.

As Bertra came out again to refill their cups of tea, she kept her smile plastered on her face, but within a thought occurred to her that she very much disliked, 'How long will I have to live, before I stop encountering the remnant's of my nation's many sins?' She had no answer to that, and dreaded the sleepless night she knew lay ahead of her when that question started to keep her up in the silent darkness.

_...E-Rantel…_

Kuderika rolled her eyes. "No! That isn't how that works Damachi!" She snapped out and got up from the table. She stalked around to the other side of the rounded table and slapped her hand down on the page of the thick book. "Pay attention unless you want to fail!"

The blue haired boy gave a toothy, sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't get it then."

Kuderika bit her lower lip and looked down at him with her other hand on her hip. She then looked around the table at her other friends only to similar sheepish looks. "Wait… none of you… oh by god's own bones…" She slapped her face. "Flip to page four hundred and thirty two!" She held her hand out and whispered [Minor Levitation] Her book rose from where it sat, and it came over to her hand. She flipped to the relevant page and read aloud, heedless of the stares. "The fact of faith creates the reality of the magic. It isn't from gods at all. The potential of the body is the arbiter of our limitations. Therefore by raising potential, limits themselves may be raised." She snapped the book closed and looked around at the wide eyed expressions from the eight students around the table.

"What?" She asked. "Do I have something on my face?" She touched her cheek and rubbed it gently, then checked her hand. "Did I get it?"

"Did you… did you just use a floatation spell?" Damachi asked, his round face blank but for the open, gaping mouth.

"Well, yeah, there's no rules against it. Once you pass your exam, you're allowed to use magic as long as you don't hurt anyone." She looked around the table. "What's wrong?"

"That's a second tier spell." Her roommate replied.

"I'm aware of that, there's nothing saying that the tier we use has to correspond with our year of study." Kuderika retorted testily.

"But… but…" Damachi began, only for Kuderika to shake her head defiantly.

"Don't worry about it, I come from a line of magic talent, even my worthless trash mother supposedly had talent when she was young. Now quit worrying about things that don't matter, and focus on those letters in that book or I swear by god's own bones I will use a third tier spell to make the letters grow teeth, jump off the pages, and start biting you in places you'll be too embarrassed to show the healers!"

"Ugh, she's worse then Fluder." Damachi grumbled.

Neike laughed, "She's kidding, there's no spell like that." Her laughter cut off when Kuuderika's expression didn't change. "Wait, there isn't… is there?"

Kuuderika looked back at her in silence. "If you don't want to find out, pay attention. I know I agreed to do a study group with you all, but you 'barely' passed your last exams even with that. And… yes, going out drinking was fun. But… but I also don't want my friends to fail. So bust those butts or I'll make the letters on those pages start biting them!" Kuuderika's voice was sharp, but she let a tiny smirk form in spite of her best efforts, and the mood became more relaxed.

"Oh, and as an added incentive, drinks are on me for the first hour… 'if' you can all manage to score in the top twenty percent of the class." She grinned enthusiastically, and her fellow students snapped their heads back down over their books with sudden interest.

"Still, it seems weird to think that a god doesn't have to exist for magic to work…" Damachi added.

"Well, that's how it is." Kuuderika replied and went back over to her seat and flopped down with a heavy breath. "Look, I have to work at this too, lots of magic exists in this world, but none yet that has been able to replace lots of studying. And I know some of you are looking to apply for spots in Neia's three hundred, now that they're expanding it from one hundred, to three, and with a fifty percent magic complement. If you really want that, you're going to have to be motivated by more than booze and boobs."

Neika rested her cheek in her left hand, propping it up from her elbow on the table. "That sounds like a decent name for a theme restaurant."

"Sounds more like a 'Teats & Meats' rip off." Damachi retorted, only to get a glare from Neika.

"Hey, it's totally original. Besides, I'd make it into more like a bar, focused on drinking rather than sandwiches." Neike insisted defensively.

"Your inner merchant is coming out, maybe put that to rest and focus on your inner mage instead, yes?" Kuuderika said as she jabbed an elbow into her roommate's ribs.

She winced slightly, "Yeah, yeah. It's just a nice idea, that's all I'm saying." She pouted and turned her attention back to the page in the book.

_...Arwintar…Following Season…_

Goan stretched out in the preparation area, drums echoed down into the inner chamber where those who would stand on the sands of the arena were prepared. The fact that they echoed so well spoke to the sheer size of the drums themselves, they stirred the crowd's love of violence, filling the air with passionate sounds.

Around him, other juniors wrapped their hands tight with cloth, secured their boots, and donned their armor, in that, Goan was no different. However while they talked and laughed, an undercurrent of nervousness was carried in every gesture, every sound, every look. The looks were double and cast with doubt. The gestures bore slight trembles of anticipation and common tasks from binding laces to securing straps, once graceful from a lifetime of practice, had now become as clumsily executed as if their doers were but children once again first learning how to dress themselves. Even those who spoke with brash tongues every day and hour up until that moment, now had a tiny tremor carried on the backs of bold words.

When the sound of the booming drums echoed within, that sent them to a stillness that was deathlike beneath the ground. The dull brown stone of the underchamber that carried the echo of clanking armor and weapons around, now carried only the heavy booms.

Goan however, felt little to nothing, he dusted his hands with chalk and slipped on the armor that had been sent to him as a gift from the Pope, and took up the sword given to him by Cocytus on the anniversary of his mother's death, and took a look at himself in one of the mirrors that stood by the exit ramp that led up into the arena. He touched the scaled armor with his right hand. 'Absolutely marvelous.' Forged out of adamantite and engraved with runes, it was light as air, but he'd seen it stop one of the bolts from the new crossbows like a castle wall stopped ordinary arrows. Painted over white, it glowed faintly, in an almost ghostly way.

Wearing it as he did, and seeing himself in the mirror, all he could think was, 'Is this really me? Do I really look like this?' Muscles forming over his body were rapidly tearing away at the small gangly boy that had once been, and replacing him with a man growing toward the flowering of his youth.

His white hair was still cropped short enough that the ends stood straight without any effort, and his deep set, dark eyes were piercing even by his own reckoning. The sword in hand was a unique piece as well. A single edged blade that pitched forward to the point with the edge being concave closer to the hilt, but convex as it drew to the point. The curve let him swing it to deliver a blow with the momentum of an axe, while still having the long cutting edge of a sword to allow a thrust. The hook-like hilt protected Goan's hand, while also adding stability and flexibility in control. "Falcata." He said quietly, reminding himself of the name, a tiny smile formed at the sound of the name.

Faint voices were carrying down into the underchamber as the lineup of combatants were announced.

Goan rotated his arms to loosen himself up one more time, and walked up the ramp to wait at the gate. He rested his free hand on the crossbars of the gate and listened as the other juniors followed after him up the ramp when they'd finished their own preparations.

"Nervous about your first fight?" A feminine voice asked from over his shoulder.

Goan turned to see a young female orc holding a heavy maul with the head down on the ground and her hands folded one over the other on top of the butt of it. "No, this feels… right, somehow. Win or lose, this is where I'm supposed to be, what's to be nervous about?"

She laughed gruffly, her lower teeth bobbing up and down fiercely with her jaw. "The sharp teeth of the beasts we're going to be facing, maybe?" She asked sarcastically. "Remember this is supposed to scare off the unfit, there's always a few who find out 'now' that they can't hack it and run off home. Don't think you'll be one of them?"

"No, I won't be, any more than you will, Lomba. Just don't shove your big head in a wolf's mouth, and you'll be fine." Goan replied succinctly in his neutral, emotionless voice.

"Geez what's a girl gotta do to get a rise out of you?" Lomba asked with a roll of her eyes.

Goan shrugged and looked through the bars as various wild beasts were brought out and arrayed for the confrontation. Giant rats, flying snakes, a trio of grimlocks, and a handful of skeletons in rusty, cheap equipment. Their cries and screams of bloodlust reached his ears, and those of his fellow trainees. 'Scary sounding, intimidating, especially to the unfamiliar, but not excessively dangerous, perfect for weeding out the unfit, and they can rescue us easily if we are in over our depth. Whoever runs the arena, sure knows his business.' Goan thought respectfully, but to Lomba he simply replied…

"Well, I suppose a girl could always strip, that might work, but… not really appropriate now." He smiled slyly and didn't avoid the smack she gave to the back of his head.

"Pervert." She snorted and crossed her arms over her breasts.

He managed a laugh in turn, "Hey, I'm not the one who asked the question." He retorted defensively, and then all chatter went silent as the announcer went on.

"...And now, for their first true test of blood, some who would be gods of the arena, lords and ladies of the sands… and some who would bestride the world… Violentia Academy's Second Tiers!"

The cheers were mild enough given that it was not a primus, but the lack of enthusiasm was covered by trumpets and drums, and the gate was drawn up into the stone overhead. Light unbroken, now streamed through, and out of the shadows, stepped the dozen or so from Goan's group.

For a moment after the fanfare, there was silence except for the low growling of the various beasts, but from somewhere up above, Goan heard a voice he knew.

"She sees, and is proud." It was a thick, booming, warrior voice, and it could only have one source.

Goan followed the sound and it carried his eyes up to the emperor's box, where a blue insectoid figure stood looking down. Beside him, stood the Grand Matriarch, holding a square in hand that could have been nothing else but a picture of his mother. It stopped Goan dead in his tracks as he stared up at the pair in silence.

'I can't believe it… they came for me… and brought that… thank you… thank you… thank you…' Goan whispered in his own mind, his black eyes briefly covered in a wet sheen that he shook away as his heart skipped a beat. For a moment, an overwhelming feeling took him over, the skipped beat launched it into racing, his cheeks flushed, and the limits that seemed to confine his emotions broke into countless pieces.

The other juniors fanned out into positions and the dread monsters brought to face them, chomped at their bits and pulled at their chains. If any noticed his sudden change of mental state, there was no evidence of it. Unable to think of what else to do, he snapped a quick salute with his sword, raising it in front of his face, and crouching down into a springlike posture with his sword parallel to the ground.

Then the chains were pulled loose out of the bonds that held the monsters into place, and they charged full tilt toward the would-be gladiators and adventurers.

Lomba raised her heavy maul up like it was a feather and brought it down on a giant rat that was in mid jump when she struck the poor beast. A sickening crunch hit her ears, before it hit the sand and lay still.

Goan went in low and slid under the guard of a shield-bearing skeleton, cutting it's left leg off, then raising his foot as it fell forward, he brought the boot down on the skull, crushing it into pieces and putting it down for good.

Some of his peers were faring better than others, a handful shrank from the danger. Their response to threats confronting them for the first time was varied, one athletic young woman threw down her weapon and outright ran for the gate to the underchamber with her arms out in front of her, abandoning whatever dreams took her to that place.

One young goblin male fainted straight away when confronted by a tall grey skinned grimlock with its grasping hands, large toothy mouth, and terrible ululations. It grasped for the poor young man, but a human pair using a their spears and shields, blocked the unconscious young male and protected him from the beast, driving it back until they managed to bury their spears into its neck, and bring it crashing to its knees. They laughed joyfully, his deep laugh and hers long and valkyrie like, sparked something in them that the crowd adored. Cheers began for the pair that unguided but by shared inspiration, joined together into an impromptu team that kept close for the entirety of the struggle, and thereafter, for the rest of their lives.

Goan found himself behind a grimlock that was batting back and forth against an elf using two swords, neither gained an advantage over the other, but neither would give ground. The young wood elf used skillful footwork to keep himself just out of reach before darting in for sharp, quick, shallow strikes against the towering behemoth.

Inspired, Goan charged the monster from the back, jumping off the corpse of a pair of dead rats that had fallen one over the other, he held his falcata in both hands and with a powerful strike, embedded it deep and high into the back of the grimlock. It arched and howled in pain, flailing around as Goan clung on for dear life. Seeing the opportunity, the elf rushed in and buried his swords into the guts of the grimlock, forcing it to double over. Given a briefly relative flat surface, Goan pushed himself up, drew the sword, and rushed the few steps over it's back, and swung his sword like an axe, severing the thick neck of the grimlock, silencing its cries, fountaining dark blood over the elf, and drawing excited cries from the crowd as he stood over the slowly toppling body and rode it down to the ground.

He looked around him. Some two thirds of their numbers still stood, some bore wounds, a few had been knocked into unconsciousness or were being carried away for healing. Unable to think of what else to do, the white haired young man lifted his sword up in a vertical salute to his former teacher, and to the governess that had raised him after the death of his mother, and shouted loudly… "How'd we do?!"

The crowd, clearly misunderstanding and thinking the question was for them, erupted.

But up in the emperor's box, Enri raised the picture of his mother up over her head, and Cocytus lifted his sword in approval, and in one of the rarest events of his short life thus far, Goan smiled with genuine happiness.


	15. Good Times & Goodbyes

_...Arwintar…_

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts, but it is nothing without the parts which make it up. To be sinful in weakness is to be the piece that breaks the whole." Goan rattled off his lessons to his teacher as he swept back and forth over the grass. His falcata went out in a thrust, only to have it grabbed by his human instructor and find himself drawn forward.

The predatory look on his teacher's face was wiped off when Goan, far from being pulled off balance, went with it and flung himself bodily into the teacher, sending them both flying, Goan recovered in a roll and rushed forward. "To be an adventurer is to do what none has done where none have been, and to be prepared to vanish alone and be lost to all who knew you!"

"Good! Good! Keep it going!" The instructor tried to kick at Goan's leg and hook behind the knee with his foot, only for Goan to raise his leg and draw it back, and then pivot on it in a long swinging arc, "Adventurers never quit and adventurers never die, we only go missing!"

The instructor ducked under the blow and sent out a palm strike to Goan's torso, only to find that the young man flung himself out of the way, rolled, and drew a short blade, which he cast at the instructor's face.

"We bear the will of the king to the unknown, and carry knowledge of the unknown to our king! We face the dangers the world never knows about, and for which we may never be thanked! We need no thanks, only sharp swords, sharp minds, and iron wills!" Goan shouted the last part of the lesson as the instructor knocked the blade away with his own, only to find the fist of the student was an inch away.

Goan stepped back and sheathed his sword, and his teacher did the same.

"Very good!" The instructor said in a dutiful voice, he looked into his student's dark eyes, "If you can say all your lessons like that in the middle of a fight, you're qualified to lead a team of adventurers in battle, or even command a unit of the military. Either path is open to you, as you've passed all your training. Just one thing. Don't move."

Goan looked at him curiously, but remained still as the instructor's fist hit him square in the nose, breaking it sharply and sending Goan's head briefly snapping back.

"Now get moving, they'll see that, and know you passed. If you'd failed, you'd be walking out of here without any blood on your face. Good luck out there, you'll get a travel authorization on the way out, and a few hours to say goodbye to your friends." The instructor remarked glibly and wiped his hand clean as Goan wiped his nose and looked down at the blood on his palm.

"Ah, thanks, but you know you could have just told them." Goan said emotionlessly, but with rising excitement within as understanding began to dawn on him. 'I did it… I really did it…'

"Better this way, nobody should leave here without some blood on them, get going, and send out the next one." The instructor said and took position.

"Sir!" Goan snapped, and as he headed into the building, he saw Lomba waiting her turn.

"Good luck out there, he's no joke." Goan said and clapped her on her green shoulder hard enough to make her breasts bounce, he glanced at them once, and she noticed.

"Thanks… pervert." She laughed at him and took up her maul, "See you around, and if I don't, it was fun!"

"Sure was." He said with a wink that belied his neutral voice as they parted ways.

_...Crescent Lake…_

Queen Zesshi stood in front of the graduating class and looked out over the gathered faces. They were not vast in number, a few hundred from around the Empire. Orcs, humans, elves of both types, and a handful of other races, but every onebore hard, clear eyes that stared back at the Half Elven Queen without flinching. If they felt any pain as they were marked with the deep green ink on their upturned forearms, they showed no sign of it. 'Tough lot, getting an enchanted mark on the flesh is supposed to hurt like hell.' The Queen thought as the students sat in neat rows while one by one, their instructors went down the line with ink stained blades carving into flesh. Not a single one of the graduates cried out.

"You've worked hard, every one of you, for the status you now have. With the setting of the sun this day, you are marked forever! Assassins! Shadowalkers! Thieves! Rangers! You are the unseen guardians of the Sorcerous Empire! Black Paladins will praise you as their hidden eyes! Red Paladins will praise you as their hidden ears! Our God will praise you as his hidden whispers! The Pope will praise you as an extension of the long arm of the faith, and you will extend the reach of the empire to the places no one has ever seen, nor even imagined! You, the nameless and the famous, are the shield in the darkness which keeps all danger at bay from those you, and we, all cherish! So with all that said, let me say to you all also… WELL DONE!" Zesshi shouted the praise and thrust her finger toward the open sky that shone down light on the training grounds even as it began to set in the distance.

As her speech ended, the last of the mark makers finished and stepped out of their row, and the students shot to their feet as one and cheered, their weapons of choice, bows, spears, knives, broke from sheathes and straps and were raised aloft.

Nemu cheered as loud as anyone around her. Her auburn hair bounced wild and free and she jumped for joy. She held her throwing knives up and her face, stern as stone a moment ago, just like all the others, was now bright as the sun had been a few hours earlier.

The cheers and jumping and mutual congratulations amongst the lightly armored and dangerously armed graduates, began to fade as the Queen raised both hands to call for quiet.

The eager students finally began to seat themselves again, and waited for more from their guest speaker.

"As many of you know," Queen Zesshi replied, "In the years since… certain events, pertaining to our Pope, things have been happening among our converts in the minotaur Kingdom. Those of you who have attended under military scholarships therefore, are almost all being given orders that will take you to the temple in Menowa, there to be sent around both there and into the surrounding kingdoms. While the Empire is presently at peace, our Pope has, with council from our Divine Lord, concluded that it is best to keep a presence there to protect our Lord's minotaur followers, and to grow their strength in preparation for the days ahead."

The rumbling among the students was fairly low, a mere undercurrent, but the general feeling was one of excitement as students shared sharp eyed interest in some real action. Fingers twitched over weapons and they shifted eagerly in their seats, as if they wanted to jump up and run to their assignments already and be done with ceremony.

"Those of you on the adventurer track, are free to go to the guilds of your choice, however there are some that have 'incentives' to carry you there. And in particular this applies to the foreign ventures across the seas. I'm sure you've heard of the discovery of a whole new continent to the west… the few of you who are qualified, will find many a merchant captain, or many an eager settler, eager to pay top coin for the security you provide. Whatever your choices however, be proud that they are yours, and work hard, to make those whom you serve, glad that you made them! Military, collect your orders at the enlistment hall, all others, dismissed!" Zesshi shouted, and the cheers deafened the cheerers once again.

Many handshakes were traded, and fond farewells and tight embraces were exchanged, before Nemu made her way to the big lunkhead that had dared kiss her in front of her big sister.

"Looks like this is goodbye, isn't it?" Thorn said sadly, and reached out to take her hand in his.

"Yeah… you're going east I guess." Nemu said with a little tremble to her lips.

Thorn looked down and pressed his palm into her cheek, moving a thumb over the trace of a tear that crept out of her eye. "That's right, you know I came here on a scholarship. This was… this was always how it was going to be. But you know, you could enlist, come with me, where I'm going and maybe we…"

She covered his big, meaty hand with her small and slender one and closed her eyes. "No, I can't, you know I can't. I've wanted to be an adventurer for… I don't even know how long. Maybe… maybe I could let that go. Maybe I could ask my big sister to pull a few strings, ask His Majesty for a favor, or even write to the Pope asking to let you off your contract and let you go with me. Or maybe I could offer myself to the temple service instead, go east with you. I could give up my dream instead, and go where you go." She tilted her head up to him and raised her hand up over her head to cover his heart.

"Maybe if I did that, one way or the other, we could find a new dream, and walk the shadows together in the east or in the west. We might be happy then, getting older, maybe have children, a little girl or boy who looks like bits of both of us. Maybe they'd have the best of both our natures, my speed and your strength. My grace and your sense of humor, and we might get older and older, and see grandchildren, and we'd still laugh and hold hands side by side at the end of our lives." She sniffled out a little laugh, "Maybe you'd still be the kind of perv that would try to make out with me in front of my sister."

Thorn's eyes widened and his mouth opened in denial, but she shook her head and stilled his tongue.

"Maybe, just maybe, all that could be. But… I can't, we can't. At the back of both our minds, there'd be a memory of dreams we never fulfilled, I want to see what's out there, I want to see it while it's still… FRESH, before any others. And you, you love the thick of things. Thank you… thank you for the wonderful times… thank you for the wonderful memories, and… thank you for the wonderful nights…" Nemu whispered, and let her arm come down and allowed herself to be drawn into the arms of the behemoth and let his lips touch hers, and savored the taste of his final kiss.

"It was… wonderful, whatever happens out there, I won't forget you, Nemu of the Dark, my Lady of Shadows…" Thorn whispered into her ear, and slowly their embrace began to break. They looked around, and found themselves alone on the grounds with less than a half light remaining, they looked down at their forearms where they could feel the enchanted ink enhancing their every sense and physical trait.

"Is… is your sister coming for you?" Thorn asked hesitantly.

Nemu read his mind and smiled archly, "No, I told her to just plan my welcome home party instead, I'm pretty sure she'll send auntie Lupu for me in the morning though."

"So… then we have one more night." Thorn said suggestively.

Nemu rolled her eyes, "Yes, and you'd 'better' take all of it, go snatch your orders and then come to my room immediately, don't keep a lady waiting."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Thorn replied, and took off running for the enlistment office, his speed greatly enhanced as the enchantment responded to the darkness and enhanced his abilities.

Nemu shook off the quivering in her heart as she made her way back to her room, and stripped off her clothing when she was alone at last. She stretched out on the bed, and waited with an eye on the door until he joined her for their last night together.

_...E-Rantel..._

"Give me that!" Kuuderika said to Damachi as he handed out the mugs of ale, and the group stared at her with surprise, Neika in particular with the boldness of the blue eyed blond girl's demand.

Unwilling to argue, he passed the mug over to Kuuderika first. She took the wooden mug and raised it up, "Congratulations to all of you who passed, which is… all of you!" She looked a little cockily over her small study group and leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the table and throwing one arm over the back, her long hair hung behind her in a braid. "Hard to believe we're this close to the end, isn'it?"

"Uh, Kuuderika, you alright?" Neika asked gingerly as she took up a mug.

"Yup!" Kuuderika responded with a pleasant smile on her face, "Just… never had this stuff before, and somebody offered me a little thing of brown stuff in a small glass. Feels 'really, really good." She gave her friends a crooked smile and raised up her mug.

"To USH!" She shouted and raised up her mug.

"Uh… Kuuderika… I think… I think the drink you got first was a bourbon." Neika said, reaching out to take Kuuderika's hand.

"Whasa bourbon?" She asked, or rather, slurred out in confusion as her eyes started to glass over.

"Oh dear…" Neika began to laugh. "Hold onto me, roomie, because this's going to be a helluva good night! Hey barkeep, run a tab and keep em comin!" She shouted over the din of people going past their corner booth.

The last thing Kuuderika remembered clearly was being up on the corner stage singing a duet with Neike and Damachi while her friends sang along from down below.

She woke up the next morning in her bed with an aching head to her favorite smell… coffee. "Oh by the gods that failed…" She said as she rubbed her temple. "What happened last night?"

"Fun. Life. Good times. The point of it all." Neike said pleasantly and poured a cup, then brought it to where Kuuderika lay under her covers, she rolled over on her side and groaned. As Neike extended the cup, Kuuderika took it gratefully and brought it to her lips.

Only then did she blush, "Ah, why am I naked?" Kuuderika asked, and her mild blush became a whole lot redder. "Did we… did I?" She stammered as Neike started to laugh.

Neike let her smile become sultry, "You were amazing…"

Kuuderika's jaw dropped open, "B-b-b…" Neike started to laugh and brushed back her dark hair and clasped Kuuderika's hand. "I'm only teasing."

"Nothing happened. You forgot how to properly get out of your pants to use a piss pot, and you pissed yourself, also, you threw up on your shirt, and I don't know any cleaning magic. So, I got you out of the filthy stuff and tucked you in."

"That's all?" Kuuderika looked at her doubtfully.

"That's all." Neike said, then crouched down next to the low bed where Kuuderika lay, and her warm hazel eyes went wet briefly, "Except…"

"Except…?" Kuuderika took a sip from the cup Neike had given her, and looked at her roommate expectantly.

"You're a talkative drunk. You told me about that boy back home, your adoptive sister, your lost sisters, you talked about a lot of things, and you… your hard work, it makes a lot more sense now. I wasn't trying to pry, even though we're friends, everybody deserves their secrets. But… you know what?" Neike asked as she held Kuuderika's hand a little more tightly.

"What?" The blonde girl asked hesitantly, unable to meet the sensitive eyes of her friend.

"You deserve a lot more days and nights like yesterday. You lost one family, but don't let that be why you throw away your life in devotion to not having one. The point of doing all this is to shape our lives into what we want. Work hard, but… you had fun last night, don't let that be the last time. In a few months we'll take the last written exam. After that, we all go our separate ways, and I'll think of you often when we go, and when I do, I want to think of you having fun, just like that. Don't let last night be the only day you really live, OK?" Neike said, and when Kuuderika smiled weakly and nodded, Neike kissed her forehead, and stood back up.

"Oh and before you ask, you did all that stuff 'up here' nobody else knows, so don't sweat it." Neike said with a teasing smile, and took a seat at her desk to start studying.

"Hey Neike…?" Kuuderika said as she slowly eased herself off the bed.

"Yeah?" The dark haired, tanned merchant girl asked without looking back.

"Thanks a lot." Kuuderika said with a yawn as she stretched out.

_...Final Exam...Months later..._

Kuuderika bent laboriously over the test at her desk, her finger flew like mad over the document, her quill dipped into the inkwell and scratched over the paper as fast as she could move it. She didn't look up at the hourglass on the teacher's desk, there was no need. Her eyes shot from question to question, her hand flew with a flourish as she wrote one answer after another.

Her gentle blue eyes didn't stray from where she stared. As she did however, her mind strayed for her. A memory of herself, peeking through a large door and seeing her big sister hunched over a desk, scratching away over a document. 'She must have still been a student then… or maybe applying to be one… how long ago that was… and yet it wasn't so long at all.' She stretched at her desk with her arms over her head, and remembered her sister doing the same thing.

'You worked so hard, and looked so beautiful with the way the moon caught your hair, if only I knew what face you were making then, then I might remember what you looked like, what you sounded like…'

She bit her lip at the distraction, and resumed scribbling over the paper as she wrote answers down.

'Don't worry sisters wherever you are, I'm going to make it! And I'll remember what it felt like to have you, even if I've forgotten everything else!' Kuuderika thought and gritted her teeth in determination, she redoubled her focus as the memory faded away into the dark recesses of distant memories.

She wrote the last line with a flourish and shot to her feet, then strode to the front of the room with her blonde braid swaying against her back, and laid the document down on the desk of their teacher. The corners of her mouth turned slightly up into a smile, and in her eyes, brimmed tears she didn't fully understand herself.

The old man who sat up there did a double take when he saw the pale faced girl's expression, but relaxed a little when she spoke and slid the paper over to him. "You don't need to grade it. It's a perfect score." She said, and walked out.

...Governor's Manor...Carne…

"Welcome home!" Enri said as Nemu walked through the door with Lupusregina behind her carrying the ample field pack. She rushed and embraced her little sister, and held her fiercely.

"Sister…" Nemu whispered with joy as she kissed Enri's cheeks. Enri stepped back and looked Nemu over, the auburn haired girl was lean and tall, a shapely figure of muscle built for speed, brown eyes that were intense by any standard, and hands as hard as steel cable.

"Where's Kuuderika? And what about Goan?" She asked eagerly and looked around, "and what about the little brothers and sisters you and your husband were so busy making?" She winked and forced her big sister to blush.

Lupuregina laughed uproariously. "Ha! That's how you turn her red, Nemu, I taught you well! -su" The red headed maid grinned as the laugh faded and she dropped the field pack unceremoniously and clapped Nemu on the back.

It was much to her surprise, and delight, that Nemu didn't even flinch at the firm slap, even if it had been restrained. 'You've toughened up. Good girl.' She thought of her 'more or less' niece.

"Kuuderika is probably in the bath house right about now, and as for Goan, he should have already gotten here. I think I know where he is though. Just… let him be for the moment, I think he needs to be alone for that." Enri said sensitively, and then went on. "As for the rest…" Enri said, and then the squeels began of the 'older' of Enri's younger two began to half toddle, half run, over to where their aunt was at the door. Their hair was blonde like mother and father, a boy and girl each, and they made their way to where Nemu stood, and toppled forward to cling to her legs.

"Well, that answers that!" Nemu said, "But now where's Enfi?"

"He's in Nazarick today, showing off a new potion to His Majesty, an orange one, and no… I have no idea what it does." Enri replied with a tedious roll of her eyes.

She then tugged her sister in for another embrace, "I'm just glad to have you home… but the question is… are you staying? And if so, for how long?" Enri asked anxiously.

"We'll talk about that over dinner. I… I did say goodbye to Thorn though… he's going East to Menowa, and… I'm not." Nemu said with a tic appearing on her cheek as she suppressed the urge to cry.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I am." Enri said as she stroked her little sister's back.

"It's alright… it was always how it was going to end up. Though I didn't expect it to hurt this much…" Nemu replied, then with a sniffle, forced away that remaining emotion.

_...Moira's Home…_

Goan stood at the grave of his mother and laid a blue rose at the base of her headstone. Shadows danced over it, cast by the shade of tree branches that swayed in the breeze. "Well mother, I made it, I'm… well am I really a grown up? Nah, probably not, but good as. I worked hard, I trained hard… I swear I heard you cheering me on from wherever you are, I hope that wasn't just a frantic delusion brought on by pain. But whether it was, or wasn't, I'm grateful that you were the kind of mother I could have that over. I don't know when, or if, I'll make it back here, but I'll make sure this place is taken care of. That the garden over top of you is tended, and if I ever do settle down, I'll have you brought to where I am."

He knelt down and touched the place where her head would have been lying beneath the dirt. "I'm going to go out into the world and make my mark on it, in a way you'd have been proud of. His Majesty has given me every means to succeed, any failure at this point, is my own weakness. And I promise you mother, I won't sin in such a way that I disgrace you. Well, that's all for now… I guess. I'll do my best out there, keep cheering for me, OK?"

He walked away from her resting place, with the branches of the tree still waving gently behind him as he left the empty house and full grave alone.


	16. From One World to Another

_...Enri's Home…_

Kuuderika came in from the bathhouse, changed in her room, and descended the long ornate steps near to where the great dining area was, to the sound of familiar voices.

"Nemu!" She shouted and charged over to her adoptive sister, who moved far faster than Kuuderika remembered her being capable of doing, and ate up ground much more quickly. They hugged fiercely and smiled broadly, and Nemu practically dragged Kuuderika to the table where Enri sat with four cups of tea laid out for all of them.

"Where's Goan? Didn't he finish training too?" Kuuderika asked.

"Yes, I did." He said as he walked in behind her a moment later, three women shot over to him and wrapped him in their embrace, only to stop in shock when they felt his back.

"What the…" Enri asked with blinking eyes.

"Scars, I got the nickname 'ridgeback' if you can believe it." Goan said with a cockeyed look of annoyance, "Don't worry about it, I was training as a fighter class, of course I'm going to get dinged up." He managed a mild smile that barely turned up the corners of his lips.

"God, you're like a wall of muscle now." Kuuderika said as she put her hand on his chest.

"What was I before, a twig?" Goan asked with false offense at the question.

"No but… well, just wow, you got big." Nemu interjected.

"I'd say so did you but…" He stopped when she folded her arms and glared at him.

"Say something pervy, and we'll see if your block or evasion skills can outdo my strikes." She glared at him and he whistled innocently, running his left hand through his short white hair and looking away conspicuously.

She couldn't maintain the glare, she broke down in a grin and said loudly, "It's just so good to be home…"

"Yeah, it is, it really is but… listen, I don't plan on staying for long, and I wanted to propose something to you two." Goan said with sudden seriousness.

"Sit, sit." Enri said seriously, and with her hand on the small of his back, she guided him to the seat.

He moved to the ornate, cherry wood seat, and waited while the others sat as well. A few moments later, when Lupusregina returned, he took a deep breath and folded his hands on the table. "I'll be blunt, I want to go west. I'm going to go to the coast of Re-Estize, sign on with an expedition, and take a ship with one of the colony vessels. They're badly in need of adventurers, so they'll take them with or without a team. I want to see the world."

Enri was quiet while he talked, and both Nemu and Kuuderika let him go on at length about what was out there and why he wanted to go. "I know how dangerous it is," he said gravely, "the stories out of there made it all the way to where I was training, but that's what adventurers are for. This opportunity doesn't come but once in a thousand years, to see things nobody has ever seen before. I'll miss this place, I'll miss 'you', Enri, and 'you' Lupusregina, but I'd rather go out there to face the unknown than just grind my way toward some role that is likely going to be not just handed to me, but is already a well worn path trod by a hundred generations before I was even born."

"I think I know where this is going. -su" Lupusregina said as she propped her head up in her hands and watched with amusement.

"Look, I don't know what you two plan to do next, but we all took adventurer tracks of some sort, I say we go together. Join me. We may not be 'perfectly' balanced, with just the three of us. But with stealth, magic, and strength, we're most of the way there, we can get one or two more members somewhere along the way. There's nobody out there I'd rather go with, than you two, so what do you say?" Goan asked hopefully, spreading his hands slightly apart at the table.

"Can we be a team?" He asked with a very rare smile spread over his face.

Nemu's hand slapped down on the table in front of her, covering Goan's left hand. "Damn straight!" She said eagerly.

"Not quite what I had in mind, but you know, now that you mention it, that does make sense." Kuuderika's blue eyes danced and she put her hand over Nemu's. "If I'm going to fight with anyone, I can't imagine a better group than family to do so with."

"So… you're all going to go…" Enri felt the shadow come over her face and she looked down at the smooth decorative table. "I knew this day would come… that those I loved would leave… I can't keep you here, not when there's a world out there waiting for you. But… but you know you can always come back." Enri said urgently, "You're only a gate away, keep message scrolls, and whenever you want to come home… please, please don't hesitate to hop back here for a hot meal and a warm bed!"

She waved her arms around to encompass the whole manor, "This is your home, and I'll always be here waiting for you, for as long as I live!" She said emphatically, but tears trickled down her cheeks anyway, as she opened out her arms and urged them to come in for another embrace. "I'll miss you all so much… but I'm so god damn proud of who you've become! I know I'll be just as proud of all that you go out and do! Just… just stay a few days, let me be that selfish at least, before I send you to the world, give me a few more days. I've planned a celebratory party for you all for tomorrow, and I'd like at least a little private time as well, just a few more memories before I have to say 'till next time.' Enri urged and wiped her eyes.

"Of course, I planned on a few days, just… just have my mother's house looked after, and her grave tended with the garden and the tree… I don't know when I'll make it back, but I'd like to know she's still looked after." Goan said gently.

"Of course… of course Goan." Enri said with a little, quiet voice.

"For now though… let's live a little, auntie Lupu, what do you say to some wine, beer, or bourbon?" Kuuderika said enthusiastically and clapped her hands together.

"I say that's an unexpected, but great idea. -su" Lupusregina said with a wicked smile on her face as she shot up to her feet to go carry that idea out before Enri could even try to object.

The rest of the evening was spent with the family laughing and joking, joined eventually by Enferia, who was quick to join in, and stories were traded about their training, friends, education, experiences, and more. Some had been told in letters, but were told afresh in person. Kuuderika tried a rendition of the song she sang while accidentally drunk, Nemu retold the story of how her boyfriend 'made out with her' in front of Enri, to the laughter of the others and the blush of her big sister.

It lasted all through the night, until at last Kuuderika looked over to Goan and asked, "I didn't think of this before but, what would you want to register our team as?"

"Funny time to ask that, it's the break of dawn out there now. -su" Lupusregina giggled drunkenly and slammed her mug down on the table after draining it.

"Actually… that's a good name." Goan said thoughtfully.

"What ish?" Nemu slurred out slightly and yawned loudly.

"Breaking Dawn. I like it." Goan said with an approving nod. "Great job Lupusregina." He grinned a bit and polished off another mug himself.

"Course, I 'am' a servant of Lord Ainz, after all. -su." Lupusregina said cockily.

"To Breaking Dawn. Which… after all that, is when I'm sleeping till tomorrow." Goan said and raised one more full mug.

"To Breaking Dawn." His new team, and his family, brought mugs together as one as they echoed the toast.

"This… this is going to be amazing." He said sincerely, a sentiment that nobody felt the impulse to argue against.

Two weeks later, after another round of long and tearful goodbyes, the best equipped newbies the world had ever seen, rode on undead horses through the streets of Re-Estize as they made their way to the coast. Along the way, they took the time to practice their teamwork and took on small jobs for practice, and Breaking Dawn made a few spending coins extra on the journey west.

The sun was at their backs when they finally reached the great western road that ran along the sea. Their armor glinted in the light of the rising sun, and drew ample commentary and murmurs from those who didn't recognize the unfamiliar team, and gaped at the copper plates they wore around their necks.

The busy streets proved easy to navigate however, and the three rode in an arrow shape, with Nemu and Kuuderika at Goan's right and left hands. The sound of crates being stacked, the shouting of voices calling for patrons, the smell of fish from the coast and the opening doors of establishments revealed a city waking up.

"Busy place." Kuuderika remarked casually.

"Where in the empire isn't, these days?" Goan asked in turn, "Besides, this is a coastal city, everybody is all abuzz about that new continent over there, it's bound to be busy here, even compared to everywhere else."

"Fair enough." Kuuderika shrugged.

Nemu pointed ahead, "Look, there's the masts! The new ship designs, the ones from Nazarick! Can you see them?!" Nemu asked excitedly.

"Ah, no… and I don't know how you can." Goan said dumbly.

"Well they're there, hurry, let's hurry!" Nemu said, suddenly childlike in her excitement as she spurred her undead mount onward.

They were quick to imitate her and felt their own enthusiasm rising up when they saw the distant masts come closer, when they finally reached the docks, their mouths dropped open.

"How… just… wow…" Kuuderika said, utterly stunned by what she was looking at. A large, triple masted ship with a massive, deep bottom and a sloping keel thrusting out like it was built to stab the horizon itself, sat floating in the water in front of them.

"Can ah'help you folks?" A bare chested dark elf asked as he saw them staring.

"Yes." Goan said as he dismounted his undead horse and stuck out his hand. "My name is Goan, and I'm the leader of Breaking Dawn, a group of adventurers looking to go west, can you help us out?"

"Sure can, I'm the captain of the Blue Rider, that pretty ship you're so politely gawking at." He shook Goan's hand and put his hands on his hips. "Your passage is covered double by the guild, even as copper plates, but be careful when you get to the New Land, it's dangerous over there. You sure you're ready, you are only copper plates…"

He looked them over hesitantly, raising his eyebrow as he noted the expensive gear.

Goan yanked out their travel documents, and slapped them joyfully into the dark elf captain's hands. "Oh Yes, we're ready, we're ready for anything." Goan said enthusiastically, and the three went up the long gangplank one right after the other.

After they stored their horses and their gear in their temporary quarters, each independently chose to make their way back to the deck of the ship. When it began to move, they watched the world they knew fade behind them. They barely blinked and barely breathed while all the places that held the bodies of their loved ones, and all the places that held all their memories, was slowly reduced to a dot in the distance. Only when it had faded away to nothing entirely, did they go to the prow of the ship and watch the seemingly endless ocean, and the world beyond, open up before them.


	17. Final Thoughts

**AN**

**Normally, there would be an epilogue here, but you know, I decided against it. If you want to know what happens next, write it. For my part, if you asked me, I'd say they lived, loved, fought, succeeded and failed, and the lot of them, our central trio and those they knew, made the choices they wanted to make with their lives, and lived with the consequences. They would have regrets, sadness, happiness, and all the things people look for in life, that make life worth living, and the things that remind us to appreciate what we've got.**

**If you need an epilogue from me, let it be enough that I would say that everybody in this story, lived a life worth living right up to the very moment the living stopped for them, and left examples to be followed, for those who lived after.**

**That's epilogue enough for this one.**

**But if you 'must' have a few hints. You don't think the area where Ainz hit... is the only place players can appear, do you? That is all I'm saying. ;)**

**Thank you for reading.**

**It has meant a lot.**

**If you want to read more, all my future work will be on the site: 'Royal Road' just search for 'God Rising: The Cult of Ainz' on there, and you'll find that I'm uploading not only revised work, improved now that I have some experience behind me, as well as original work. **

**Added note... God Rising's new upload home will include illustrations provided by supporters and artists (and yes I'll take fan submitted art).**

**Next up, my last God Rising Author Universe story, 'Acting in Good faith' after that, I'll only be taking commissioned works and writing original material.  **

**If you want to see what else I'm working on, or if you're an author or a beta reader just wanting to get your work looked at, or just hang out in a positive, creative environment, join my discord (invite code: /ArqYV5Q)**

**I've been toying with the idea of a darkfic Shieldhero story, or a Tanya war story, but honestly, I'll probably focus on original work while I pursue getting my own (sort of Isekai) light novels published.**

**Once again, thank you for reading, I love this community, and hope you enjoyed the ride up to now.**


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